


the cost of being a superhero

by flowersandsunshine



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Discussions of Suicide, Eventually!, Fluff, Guidance Counselors, Hawk Moth is Gabriel Agreste, Identity Reveal, Let my children be happy, POV Alternating, heavy discussions, this will start out pretty sad jsyk, well it hasn't been disproved by canon yet so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-02-28 17:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 25,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18761053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowersandsunshine/pseuds/flowersandsunshine
Summary: when gabriel agreste is revealed to be hawk moth, elena secoureur immediately decides to check in with adrien the next morning at school. she expected him to be upset. what she didn't expect was to quickly find out the identity of every superhero in paris, and to be the guidance counselor of all five of them on top of it all.well, she wasn't going to let those startling discoveries stop her. no, indeed. she was going to be the best counselor they could ask for. after all, someone had to help those kids. it might as well be her.





	1. adrien

**Author's Note:**

> just a note: i'm a school counselor and so a lot of the dialogue from elena is based on my own knowledge of what it's like to be a counselor. 
> 
> also. please, miraculous ladybug, let the children get some therapy. i'm begging you. they've been through so much.

Elena Secoureur felt her heart fill with relief and horror as she watched the news that night. Gabriel Agreste, the great Parisian fashion designer, had just been discovered to be Hawk Moth himself. 

She felt her stomach roll slightly as she watched the footage of Hawk Moth detransforming, followed by M. Agreste being handcuffed and escorted away in a police car. The camera turned and focused on a shell-shocked Chat Noir and Ladybug. She flinched when Chat Noir muttered an angry, “Not now,” to the camera and turned, jumping away. Ladybug quickly followed him before the reporter started talking to the camera. 

Elena turned the television off silently. She sat on her couch for a moment, stunned. 

Her phone buzzed, causing her to jump. She picked up, sighing when she saw her administrator’s name. “Hello?” 

“Elena,” M. Damocles said. “You saw the news?” 

“I did, yes,” she said. 

“So you’re aware that Adrien Agreste may need extra support tomorrow at school?” 

Elena sighed again. “Yes. I’ll check in with him during his first class. I, uh… I can’t quite believe it.”

“Yes, well,” M. Damocles said, clearly not paying close attention, “it’s all a shock to us, yes. I must go. Please check in with Adrien tomorrow, though.”

“Yes, sir,” Elena said, frowning when the line went dead before she could finish her sentence. 

She put down her phone and began to brainstorm what she would say to Adrien in the morning. 

\---

“Hello, Adrien,” Elena said in a cheerful tone the next morning. “How are you?” 

Adrien gave her a flat look before pulling his face into a, clearly fake, smile. “I’m fine. Coping well.” He glanced around her office and sat down in an overstuffed chair. 

Elena sat across from him. “I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

“No.” Adrien cleared his throat. “I didn’t even know our school had a counselor.” 

“Yes, it’s not as common in France as it is in, say, the United States, but, especially with way Paris has been struggling lately, M. Damocles thought it would be a good addition to the staff to have a counselor,” Elena said. 

Adrien fidgeted, rubbing his ring in a circular motion, over and over, drawing Elena’s eye to it. “Ms. Secoureur, I… I don’t know what to say.” 

“Do you want to say anything?” she asked quietly. “Because I understand if you don’t. We don’t know each other, and there’s no reason for you to trust me. But if you did want to talk, that option is open to you.” 

“Do you keep things said in here a secret?” he asked. 

Ah. 

“Yes, except if you are thinking of hurting yourself or someone else, or someone is hurting you.” Elena narrowed her eyes slowly, watching Adrien fidget some more. “Otherwise, I will not tell anybody what you tell me.” 

“Oh.” Adrien crossed and uncrossed his legs. “Um. I guess it would probably be good for me to talk about it, then.” 

Elena nodded and smiled in what she hoped would be an encouraging manner. 

“Well. My dad is Hawk Moth.” Adrien laughed mirthlessly, a bitter smile on his perfect face. “And, I don’t know, maybe it was shocking last night when I found out, but now that I know, it makes sense. La—a friend actually once thought he would be Hawk Moth, but we disproved it when he was akumatized.” He frowned and glanced down at his shoes. “I guess we were wrong.” 

“It’s okay to be wrong,” Elena said quietly. 

“Yeah, I guess. Except it was kind of my job to find out who Hawk Moth was.” 

“I—what do you mean?” she asked, surprised. 

His eyes widened and he stammered, “I, uh, I don’t really mean… no, it was a fun thing my friends and I used to do, you know, before we found out who my dad was. Not, like, my real job or anything. You know Alya Cesaire? Yeah, she’s obsessed with finding out everything about the heroes and villains in Paris, so we used to help her. That’s what I meant.”

“Oh.” Elena waited for him to add something—he seemed more tense than he had when he first walked in the door. “So how are you feeling right now?” 

“I… I don’t know.” Adrien shrugged, his shoulders relaxing again, just slightly. “Mostly angry.”

“That’s normal in this situation,” Elena assured him.

“Yeah. It… it just pisses me off that, I don’t know, my father being Hawk Moth means that my own father tried to murder me multiple times,” Adrien mused, eyes glazed over as he stared at nothing. “Maybe he didn’t realize he was attacking me particularly? But he still tried. That’s, I don’t know, incredibly fucked up.” He flinched. “Sorry.”

“You can say whatever you want in here,” Elena assured him, her heart pounding faster than it normally did. “Especially if your father attempted to murder you multiple times.” 

“Yeah.” Adrien sighed. “God, I just… I can’t believe all this time, he’s been completely ignoring me except to yell at me or tell me to go to work because he’s been obsessing over my mom’s almost death. And I can’t believe he didn’t tell me! And, like, how dare he keep that from me? He was hiding my mom in the freaking basement for, what, four years as he terrorized Paris just because he wanted her to live? Like, people die. I made my peace with it. He’s a grown-up. He should have been able to make his peace with her death, too.” In the midst of this (incredibly concerning) speech, Adrien hopped up and started pacing back and forth in her office. 

Elena decided to stay in her seat. “I can see why that would be hard for you to grasp.”

“Incredibly hard! And I went out and fought his akumas faithfully, and now I almost wish I hadn’t. But then, Paris would likely be destroyed.” He shrugged and ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up in a few places. “And, you know, Ladybug would probably be dead, which would be… God, I would be… so fucking devastated.” 

“Mhmm,” Elena said, hoping desperately that her face still looked calm and collected. 

“I mean, I’m obviously in love with her. I’ve been telling her for the past, what, almost four years that I love her. I wish she loved me back, but she doesn’t, and that’s fine. Especially now. I’m such a mess right now. I’m glad she doesn’t know who I am—she would definitely not like me right now.” Adrien gave another quick, mirthless laugh. 

Wincing inwardly, Elena just nodded.

“Oh, and another thing! I’ve died multiple times, fighting akumas, and it sucks that my father actually did kill me! Like, five times? Six? I don’t know. Luckily, Ladybug is there with her Cure, otherwise I would have died years ago, but… Like, there’s no way for me to process all of this.” Adrien sighed and flopped back into the chair, staring up at the ceiling. “I’m kind of glad I’m in here, actually. If I had to sit in class this morning and feel everyone’s sympathetic eyes on the back of my head, I might, I don’t know, do something drastic.” 

“Like what?” 

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. 

“So, to be clear,” Elena said slowly, carefully, “you are Chat Noir and the information that your father is Hawk Moth is weighing heavily on you?” 

She smiled sympathetically when Adrien tensed and looked at her, his body language immediately looking like that of a cornered animal. “No?” he said, obviously trying to recall what he had just said. 

“Like I said, everything you say in here is confidential,” she added. 

“Um…” 

“And, I feel like I should add, I am obligated to ask you a few questions about your risk of suicide,” Elena said, watching his reaction carefully, keeping her face neutral. “I want to make sure you are safe.” 

“I… I’m not going to kill myself,” Adrien said slowly. “I kind of wish I had never been born, but I wouldn’t… do that.” 

“Okay.” Elena waited for him to look up at her again. “I’m still going to ask, though.”

Adrien nodded. 

“I’m sorry you’re dealing with all of this. Who are you living with right now?” 

“A friend,” he said, his voice scratchy.

Elena nodded. “Well, then. Here’s what’s going to happen: I’m going to ask you a few questions. Please answer them honestly. You’re not in trouble. Then, I’m going to teach you a few coping skills for today, and you can pick and choose which ones you like and are effective for you. I think I’m also going to call the adult you’re staying with right now and make a referral to a mental health therapist, if you’re okay with that. Does that sound okay?” 

He nodded again, eyes downcast. 

“Alright, Adrien. Have you ever considered suicide or wanting to die?” 

\---

“Thanks, Ms. Secoureur,” Adrien said, a small, but real smile, on his face as he stood to leave. “Um… if I want to see you again?” 

“You can tell your teacher or leave me a note,” Elena said, pointing out her small mailbox. “I will probably call you in here later this week if we haven’t seen each other for a bit, just so you’re aware.” 

“Thanks,” he said, nodding. “I’ll, uh… I’ll see you soon.” 

“Okay. Bye, Adrien.” Elena watched the boy walk around the corner before shutting her door and falling back into her chair. She closed her eyes for a moment, feeling a strong urge to cry. 

After willing the tears away, she picked up her pen and scratched a few notes to herself. 

“abusive father… stressed about hawk moth/possibly dead mother/identity/wanting to die… not actively suicidal but keep an eye out… start small group surrounding him?” 

She put her pen down and thought for a while. 

\---  
Chat came to a stop on the Eiffel Tower, taking a deep breath when he saw Ladybug waiting for him. “Hey,” he said quietly. 

Ladybug looked up and smiled. “Kitty,” she said, “can you believe we got Hawk Moth? I think it took the whole night and school day to realize he’s actually defeated, but he is.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Chat? You okay?” 

Chat realized he was slumped over and straightened his back. “Yeah, LB, I’m good.” He gave her a hesitant smile. 

“You aren’t… happy that we defeated him?” Ladybug pressed on. 

He frowned. “I mean, yes, of course, but… Gabriel had a son.” He winced inwardly at the harsh tone of his voice. “And it’s fucking awful to think about how Adrien must be feeling right now.” 

Ladybug was quiet for a moment. 

Chat watched her, waiting for her response. 

Finally, she took a deep breath before stepping into his space, tentatively wrapping her arms around his middle. Chat generally loved hugs from Ladybug—he had gotten taller over the past three years or so, and towered over her now—but right now, he just felt numb. 

“Chaton,” she said, soft, her cheek against his chest, “I know Adrien, in person, and you’re right, he must be feeling awful right now. He was incredibly quiet and tense today at school.” 

Chat’s mind started whirling at that statement and he prayed she wouldn’t feel how his heart beat picked up. 

“But we can allow ourselves to feel some relief. I mean… no more Hawk Moth. No more akumas. We can just be regular teenagers now.” She pulled back slightly and squinted at him. “You are a teenager, right? You’re not, like, twenty-one or anything?” 

He blinked in surprise. “You’re… asking for personal information?” 

She shrugged. 

“Yeah, I’m seventeen,” he said after a moment. “Almost eighteen.”

“Me, too.” 

They just looked at each other for a bit before Ladybug stepped back, completely losing contact with him. 

He hated that he missed her already. 

“You should find some way to relax.” Ladybug shrugged. “If possible, stop thinking about Adrien for a second. You’ve told me that you have nightmares and some pretty intense reactions whenever someone suddenly comes up to you.”

“So do you,” Chat muttered, irrationally upset that she brought that up.

“I do,” she agreed easily. “So now’s our chance to move past that.” 

He frowned and turned away from her for a second, looking out over Paris. 

It was quiet. 

“I went to my school counselor today,” Chat said quietly. 

“Oh?” Ladybug asked, surprise evident in her tone. 

“You should, too.” 

When she was quiet for a long time, Chat turned to look at her. Ladybug was standing, arms folded across her chest defensively. She glanced at him, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. “Yeah, I guess,” she said softly. “That would probably be good.” 

He nodded. “I should go.” 

“Okay,” Ladybug said. 

Chat grabbed his baton and hesitated. “I love you, LB,” he said. 

She smiled softly and tapped his nose. “I love you, Chaton.” 

“See you in two days? Same place?” 

“Same time.” 

He took in the view, Ladybug standing so close to him, smiling, a real smile like he hadn’t seen in several months from her. He smiled. 

Extending his baton, he made his way back to Nino’s house for a good night’s sleep.


	2. marinette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marinette decides to give this "counseling" thing a try.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a small girl with a sweet face, and Elena liked her, what she knew of her. Class representative for two years (not consecutive). Aspiring fashion designer, and in some ways, actual fashion designer. Friend of Jagged Stone. She was bullied for several years by Chloe, which Elena found out about when she came to the school, and then was bullied by Lila until Adrien Agreste disproved all of Lila’s lies. She obviously had a huge crush on Adrien that never fully went away. She dated Luka Couffaine for a while, but had broken up with him after a few months and then cried in Elena’s office for a while about how it was too easy to break up with him and she felt guilty. 

She was also Ladybug, Paris’s favorite hero. Marinette had seemed panicked for a while after she let that slip, but she had relaxed after a while and now obviously felt relieved that someone knew her secret. 

Elena nodded along as Marinette ranted about how Hawk Moth was a dick and she should have let Nino punch him when he suggested it and how she wished she had the chance to punch him, but no, the police wouldn’t let her go near him. 

Grabbing her notebook, Elena wrote without taking her eyes off Marinette’s face. 

“marinette: a ‘super’ good person. needs support from someone who knows who she is. isn’t finding that anywhere. wants to help everyone but is terrible at helping herself. will probably fall apart once everything settles.” 

“Do you think I did the right thing?” Marinette asked. 

“By calling the police?” Elena asked for clarification, putting her notebook down.

Marinette nodded. 

“Hmm.” Elena thought for a minute. She already knew what she was going to say, but she wanted Marinette to feel like she had given it actual thought. “I think you would have worried about it until you called the police. It was good that you did call them, actually—otherwise you would have been upset at yourself for delaying, right?” 

Marinette nodded again, a thoughtful expression on her face. 

“So yes, I think you did the right thing. M. Agreste needed to go to prison, and you knew that he was hurting both his son and the entirety of Paris, so you did the heroic thing. I’m proud of you for that.” 

Marinette’s eyes filled with tears suddenly. “Thank you,” she whispered. 

“Marinette, you are a very strong young lady. But you’ve been holding Paris’s problems on your shoulders for years now,” Elena said softly. “It’s time to rest now.” 

Marinette put her face in her hands, crying without reservation now. “I, I just, I don’t know how to be me, I guess. I’ve been Ladybug for too long.” 

“And I’m glad you have been,” Elena said, not sure that was really the truth—Ladybug did not need to be an actual child. Whoever chose Marinette to be Ladybug and Adrien to be Chat Noir absolutely could have chosen adults. “But you can let the police clean up their city for a while. You can focus on what teenagers focus on. Where are you going to school after you graduate? Who do you like? What activities do you like to do when you have free time? Focus on yourself for a while. Get to know yourself.” She paused. “You like video games, right?” 

“I do,” Marinette said, wiping her eyes and sniffling. 

“So that’s a place to start. Maybe find some other friends who like similar video games. Play with them. Find yourself.” Elena smiled at her, trying to catch her eye. “You know who you are. You just let yourself get lost in Ladybug for a few years.” 

“What if nobody likes me as much as they like Ladybug?” 

“Well…” Elena paused. “I like you more than I like Ladybug, I think.” 

“Really?” Marinette asked, surprised. 

“You’re real. Ladybug is a figurehead and I appreciate her. But… you’re Marinette, a good student, a great friend, a leader, an incredibly creative person, and so much more.” 

Marinette let a few more tears fall, unchecked, onto her face. 

Elena grabbed a pen and a sticky note. “I’m going to write you a referral to a therapist. Is that okay? I think you probably need to make weekly appointments to just get your emotions out, and I don’t think I can do that.” 

Marinette huffed out a small breath. “That’s kind of too bad. I would love a weekly appointment to talk about the craziness that has been my life.” 

“Maybe we can work that out.” Elena smiled. “Marinette?” 

The girl glanced up at her, her face curious. 

“Thank you for trusting me with your secret.” 

Marinette flushed. “I didn’t mean to let it slip.” 

“It’s okay,” Elena assured her. “I won’t tell anybody. And it’s good for you to tell someone. Does, um…” She hesitated, wondering if this was a good question to be asking or not. “Do Chat Noir and Rena Rouge, and the rest of them, do they know your identity?” 

Marinette shook her head. “No, I didn’t let them reveal themselves. Obviously, we know Chloe is Queen Bee, but…” 

“That must have been hard for you, too,” Elena said, with a rush of realization. “Having Chloe be on your team, be a superhero.”

“Not as hard as you might think.” Marinette smiled slightly. “I mean, it was, at first, but she’s really grown up a lot lately. And she’s a very good fighter.” 

Elena laughed slightly. “I believe it.” 

“Chat actually told me that he met with his school’s counselor,” Marinette said abruptly. “That’s actually why I decided to come here.” 

“Oh?” Blinking in surprise, Elena tilted her head to the side. “That’s good. I’m glad he’s talking to someone.” 

“Yeah, he seemed to take Hawk Moth’s reveal very hard. Almost like he was upset on Adrien’s behalf, or something.” Marinette frowned. “Anyway. I’m glad he’s talking to someone, too. I might actually encourage the rest of the team to see their counselors.” She grinned. “So if you see Chloe in here anytime soon, you’ll know why.” 

Elena laughed. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind.” 

Marinette stood. “Um… you promise you’ll keep it a secret?” 

“Of course,” Elena said. “This is a space for you to talk without worrying. I won’t share it.” 

“Okay.” Marinette smiled, a fast, real smile, before opening the door and slipping through it, letting it close behind her. 

Elena took a deep breath and pulled her sandwich out from her lunch box. Taking a bite, she just thought for a moment, letting herself feel rage that someone chose actual thirteen-year-olds to be superheroes. 

If she ever met the person who chose her students to be heroes, she wasn’t sure what she would do. It would probably not be pretty. 

\---  
Marinette entered her classroom two minutes before the bell rang. She sat in her seat and took a deep breath. 

“Ms. Secoureur won’t tell,” she whispered to herself. “It’ll be fine.”

“Hey, girl,” Alya said, slipping into her seat next to Marinette. “Where were you?”

“I went to the counselor’s office,” Marinette said. “She just wanted to know how I’m handling everything. You know, as class representative and all.” She glanced over to where she could see Adrien sitting in front of her. 

He was staring at her, his green eyes huge. 

Marinette gave him a weak smile before turning back to Alya. “So. Yeah. It was nice. She actually thinks I maybe need to see a therapist, but… we’ll see.”

Alya frowned. “Why would you need to see a therapist? You’re rarely directly involved with akuma attacks and you’re not…” She lowered her voice. “You’re not related to Hawk Moth or anything.” 

Marinette shrugged. “Yeah, but I’ve had some pretty intense nightmares and stuff. You know that.” 

“I guess.” Alya still looked confused. “Do you think I maybe need to see a therapist?” 

“Um…” Marinette’s eyes went wide as she remembered the many times her best friend had fought alongside them with the aide of a miraculous. “Oh! Maybe!” 

“Oh.” 

“It might not be a bad idea, babe,” Nino’s voice joined them. 

Marinette jumped and told herself to calm down. 

“I think maybe everyone in this class should see one, actually,” Adrien said softly. “We’ve been hit harder than anyone.” 

Marinette glanced around the room at her classmates, most of them being the same classmates from the past four years. “Yeah,” she said, just as softly. 

Alya reached over and grabbed Marinette’s hand. “But we’re okay.” Marinette watched as her eyes flicked to Adrien, worried. “Or, at least, we’re going to be okay.” 

“Yes,” Nino said firmly. He reached over and put a hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “Yes, we are.” 

Marinette looked down at her shoe. She didn’t like the way Adrien’s chin wobbled or his eyes filled up with tears, but she understood. She tightened her fingers around Alya before smiling tightly up at her friend.

They were going to be okay.


	3. alya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> reveal !!!

Elena pursed her lips together, trying to tell herself not to laugh. “Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh,” she murmured to herself, feeling hysterical laughter bubble up within herself. 

Alya Cesaire was sitting across from her. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s best friend. 

Dating Nino Lahiffe. Who was Adrien Agreste’s best friend. Who Marinette Dupain-Cheng had a huge crush on. 

And, Elena suddenly realized, Chat Noir was in love with Ladybug. And Ladybug didn’t love him because she was in love with someone else. Oh, irony. What a cruel trick to play on two teenagers who didn’t deserve this. 

She refocused as Alya stared at her expectantly. “Sorry?” she asked. 

“I was just saying that I don’t really understand why I’m here, but I think it’ll be good for me. I mean, because, you know, I’ve been in danger a lot because of Hawk Moth, so I could have, I don’t know, PTSD and not know it. You know?” 

“Yes,” Elena said, struggling to understand the excitable girl. 

God, it was so obvious. Alya was Rena Rouge. How had nobody figured these kids out yet? 

Elena’s eyes widened when she realized she had seen Rena Rouge kiss Carapace on a news clip before. So. Nino Lahiffe was Carapace. 

Oh, god. 

Every single superhero in Paris was under her case load. 

She took a deep, stabilizing breath, and focused on Alya again. 

“I just wish I could have known sooner, you know? I could have, I don’t know, exposed Gabriel for the piece of shit that he is years ago and saved Adrien, and, you know, Ladybug a lot of trouble if I had figured it out before.” Alya sighed. “I must not be a very good reporter.”

“Nobody figured it out,” Elena pointed out.

“No offense, Ms. Secoureur, but my goal is to be a better reporter than everyone, so even if nobody figured it out, I should have,” Alya said. 

Elena was surprised at the edge in the girl’s voice. 

“But I didn’t. So I’m not a good reporter, obviously. I mean, we knew that years ago, I think, when I just took Lila’s words at face value. That’s on me. But I really thought I had changed and grown as a reporter, but now that I think about Gabriel Agreste, I realize how obvious it is that he was Hawk Dick.” Alya shrugged. “Whatever. Maybe I could be, like, an architect or something.”

“Do you want to be an architect?” Elena asked, struggling to keep up and keep her own thoughts in check. 

“No,” Alya said, her voice dripping with disdain. “Obviously not. But if I’m not going to be a reporter, I’m going to have to find another career option. You’ve seen my test scores. What else would I be good at?” 

“Oh.” Elena stood and opened her file cabinet, finding Alya’s easily. “Um… According to the aptitude test you took last year, your top career choices could be, um, reporting…”

Alya made a face. 

“Bartending, or a middle school teacher.”

“Ew,” Alya said, taken aback. “A middle school teacher? I would be terrible at that.” 

“Well, that’s what the test indicated,” Elena said. “But tests aren’t everything, you know.” 

“I guess not.” Alya fell silent, a sullen expression on her face. 

“Alya,” Elena said slowly, “how can I help you today? What can I do that would make this conversation feel worthwhile?”

“I don’t know.” Alya sighed. “I guess I just wanted to try to talk to somebody. Marinette and Nino were like, ‘oh, it’ll make you feel better,’ and all that other bullshit.” 

“So you don’t feel better?” Elena asked. 

“No.” She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m just angry. I’m… wow, I’m so angry.” 

“That’s understandable. And I’m sorry.” 

Alya nodded. “I should go.” 

“Would you like me to check in with you in a few days?” Elena asked. 

She smiled slightly as Alya hesitated. “Um… yeah, maybe,” she said. “That might be good.” 

“Okay.” Elena hesitated before grabbing a piece of paper from her desk. “Would you, actually, be interested in joining a small group I’m putting together? It’s just for people who have been significantly impacted by Hawk Moth to rant together and learn to move on.” 

Alya took the permission slip and frowned. “Maybe. Who else would be in this group?” 

“Um, well, funnily enough, the other members, if they agree, would be Adrien Agreste—that’s probably obvious—Marinette, Nino, and Chloe.” Elena held her breath. 

Alya’s eyes narrowed and she looked at Elena with a sharp look on her face. “Marinette hasn’t been significantly impacted by Hawk Moth.” 

“She’s your class representative,” Elena said, desperately hoping Alya doesn’t think about it too hard. “She’s carried a lot of feelings because of how often your classmates were akumatized.”

“Hmm.” Alya nodded slowly. “And Nino?” 

Elena hesitated. 

“You know.” Alya sighed and fell into her chair. “Of course you do. I suppose it’s pretty obvious.” 

“Know what?” Elena asked. 

Alya shot her a look. “You know that I’m Rena Rouge and Nino is Carapace.” 

“I…” 

“Otherwise you wouldn’t have asked Nino to join, except maybe to help Adrien.” 

Ugh, she was right. 

“Yeah,” Elena said softly. “You’re right.” 

“Ms. Secoureur, you can’t tell anyone,” Alya said. “Anyone at all. Not even M. Damocles. Nobody can know.” 

“I won’t tell anyone,” Elena assured her quickly. “I meant what I said at the beginning of our conversation about confidentiality.” 

Alya nodded. “Okay.” She sighed. “Do you want me to get a permission slip to Nino, too?” 

“I think I’d prefer to talk to him myself,” Elena said. “Is that okay? You can obviously tell him what you talked about with me, if you want, but I’ll ask him to join the group. Probably today.” 

“Okay,” Alya said. “Okay.” She stood. “I’ll talk to you later, then.” 

Before Elena could answer, she was gone. 

Elena thought for a moment before calling the front office. “When the next bell rings, will you send me Nino Lahiffe? Thanks.” Hanging up her phone, she took a deep breath. 

She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. 

\---  
“How’d it go?” Nino asked as soon as Alya entered the classroom. 

She looked around the room. Everyone was working in small groups, meaning she was with Nino, Adrien, and Marinette. Good. “Um, it was fine. Not as helpful as I hoped, but whatever. She actually invited me to join a group centered around Hawk Moth.” She placed her permission slip on the table so they could all read it. 

Adrien skimmed it quickly before glancing up, a confused look on his face. “Why didn’t she ask me?” 

“I think she just finished planning this group,” Alya said. “She did say she was going to ask you. Actually, she said she was going to ask all of us.” 

“Oh.” Marinette’s face snapped up, her eyes wide and… afraid? Before Alya could wonder what that meant, Marinette smiled. “That would be nice. Forty-five minutes a week to just sit and talk with you three about our feelings and getting out of health class on top of it? Nice.” 

“And probably Chloe, since she’s Queen Bee,” Alya added. 

Marinette’s face clouded slightly but she continued to smile. “Oh. Okay.” 

The bell rang and the loudspeaker came on before anybody had a chance to leave the classroom. “Nino Lahiffe to the front office, please. Nino.” 

Nino looked surprised, blinking owlishly at the speaker. 

“It’s probably Ms. Secoureur wanting to speak to you,” Alya said, reaching out and gripping his hand. 

“Oh,” Nino said. “Cool. See you at our next class, dudes.” He made a peace sign with his hand before gathering up all his stuff and going out the door. 

Marinette smiled at Alya and Adrien before walking to their next class, Adrien and Alya following close behind. 

Alya’s mind was whirring, going faster than she could really keep up with. If Ms. Secoureur wanted Marinette, Adrien, Nino, Alya, and Chloe for the group, that meant that she knew who Nino, Alya, and Chloe were. Chloe was a no-brainer. She told the whole world who she was. But for Ms. Secoureur to guess she was Rena Rouge, and Nino was Carapace? She obviously had some extra information. 

And really, she didn’t need to invite Marinette to this group. Sure, Marinette and she had talked for quite some time the day before, and Marinette was cagey about what they talked about, but she didn’t really believe that Marinette was that affected by Hawk Moth. She was never there when there was an akuma, and although she was really compassionate when a classmate was akumatized, she never seemed that affected by it. And it was super easy to read Marinette’s expressions, so she definitely would have known if Marinette was affected by that. So Ms. Secoureur was lying about that. Which was weird. 

Alya thought, not for the first time, about how weird it was that three of the five heroes were in the same class. She wondered about Ladybug and Chat Noir—what school did they go to? Did they have anyone who knew their identities, like she and Nino had each other? 

She doubted it. 

She smiled when Adrien bumped his shoulder into Marinette, a soft smile on his face. Really, it was a shame that those two had never gotten together. Maybe this group would be what they needed to make Adrien realize that he actually was in love with Marinette? A girl could hope, anyway. 

Alya’s eyes suddenly focused on one of Marinette’s pigtails—it was really messy, unlike the usually tidy state her hair was in. She frowned. “Marinette, your pigtail is falling out.” 

“Oh.” Marinette reached up and, in a fluid motion, took her ponytail out and redid it. “Good?”

“Yeah.” Alya smiled and Marinette turned back to Adrien. 

“Your hair never gets messed up,” she heard Marinette say. 

Adrien laughed quietly. “That would be against my father’s orders,” he said, his smile slipping at the last words. He stopped in the hallway, Alya almost running into him. “Oh.” 

Alya was quiet, not sure what to say. 

Marinette, in a surprisingly bold move, stepped closer to him and reached up towards his hair. “May I?” she asked quietly. 

Adrien just tipped his head towards her hand. 

Alya smiled slightly as Marinette messed up his hair, running her hands through it to loosen the gel and make it look messy. 

When Marinette was done, her face was red but she was smiling. “There. You look like a rebel now.” 

Adrien grinned at her. “Thanks, Marinette.” 

“Of course.” 

Alya smiled at them, her heart a little too full for a second, before feeling her stomach drop out from underneath her. 

Her eyes traveled from Marinette’s pigtails to her huge blue eyes… over to Adrien’s very messy hair and green eyes… and she gasped. 

“What?” Marinette asked.

Alya’s heart was pounding in her chest. 

“Alya?” Adrien asked after a second, placing a hand on her arm. “Are you alright?” 

“I…” Alya started. Her eyes flew from one to the other. 

She might not have had hard proof, but it was so obvious. 

Her best friend was Ladybug. And Adrien Agreste, the son of Hawk Moth, was Chat Noir. 

“Oh, shit,” Alya said before turning and running. 

She heard Marinette call after her but resolutely ignored her. She ran through the courtyard and burst out the front door, ignoring the office worker who called after her. All she could feel was the blood pounding in her ears and her feet hitting the ground as she ran, and ran, ignoring people’s looks. 

She started to sweat. 

Alya slowed to a stop in front of Master’s Fu’s. She had only been here once, when Ladybug had sent her during an emergency, and she had never returned, since Ladybug asked her to. Weird how her feet had led her here. 

She opened the door. 

Master Fu peeked around the corner and she watched as his eyes widened. “Miss Cesaire,” he said, his voice wary. “How can I help you? Is something the matter?” 

“I know who Ladybug and Chat Noir are,” Alya said, breathless. 

“Ah.” Master Fu nodded. “Would you perhaps care for some tea? And I can awaken Trixx so you can visit with her.”

“She would enjoy that very much,” a familiar voice piped up. Alya looked over and saw Wayzz floating around. “Hello, Miss Alya.”

“Wayzz,” Alya said, suddenly filled with warmth looking at Nino’s kwami. “It’s good to see you again.” She glanced back at Master Fu. “Tea and Trixx would be great. Thank you.”

He nodded and walked into the back room, motioning for her to follow him.

Alya took a deep, steadying breath, and followed.


	4. group session #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh no

“Hi, everyone. How are you all doing today?” 

Elena was nervous, if she was honest with herself. She had never knowingly entertained five different superheroes before. 

Her students all looked at her with wildly different expressions on their faces as they chorused, “Good.” 

Marinette looked exhausted. Adrien was smiling his fake smile at her. Nino had a blank expression on his face. Chloe actually looked excited to be there. And Alya…

Well, Elena wasn’t sure what happened in the past week, but Alya looked terrified. 

“Well, I’m going to lay some ground rules,” Elena said, hearing herself talk from what felt like a third-person perspective. 

She talked through the rules of group before hesitating and turning to the board. “So, today, we are actually going to play a game. It’s one that I created that will allow us to start practicing being honest—we’re going to start with things that are of little importance and then build up to some scarier topics. I know it can be hard to talk about hard things with people, no matter how close you are to them, but hopefully this will help.” 

She frowned as Alya glanced around with huge, scared eyes. 

They all played the game like she expected they would. Elena answered honestly, yet reserved, being careful to remember her role as an educator in this. Marinette was honest (of course; she hated liars) but clearly was being careful not to say anything that would potentially reveal her identity. Adrien was definitely not honest—he put enough of the truth into every statement to get away with it, but based on her first interaction with him, he was holding a lot back. 

Elena made a mental note to ask him if he got a therapist. 

Chloe was incredible. She was honest, raw, vulnerable. She seemed like she genuinely wanted to move on from her experiences as Queen Bee and grow past all that had happened to her. 

Nino was honest and said dude a lot. Honestly, Elena was not concerned about him at all. He seemed to be the most shielded from Hawk Moth. 

God, Chat Noir’s puns were rubbing off on her somehow. 

But Alya. 

Oh, what had happened with Alya? She kept stealing glances at everyone else. Her answers varied from either painfully honest or incredibly exaggerated accounts of her reporting skills, with a huge emphasis on how she was only a reporter and did not have any other input in this group. 

The way Marinette kept glancing at Alya when she said this made Elena realize that Marinette knew who Alya was. 

“And Adrien, you get the last turn,” Elena prompted him. 

Adrien picked up the dice carefully, rolling an eight. He moved eight spaces and picked up a red card. “Now that Hawk Moth is gone, what do you hope most to be able to do?” he read in a careful tone of voice. 

Elena noticed that everyone was avoiding looking at him. 

He took a shuddering breath and placed the card down. “I, um, I guess I look forward to, I don’t know, not being locked in my room every day.”

Marinette gasped and everyone looked at her. Elena was thankful for that—she was sure she wasn’t hiding her own shock very well. “He would lock you in your room?”

“Um…” Adrien shifted in his seat uncomfortably, staring down at his shoes. “Yes, but…”

“But nothing!” Marinette exclaimed. “That is not okay! Do the police know that?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. He looked up at her, biting his lip nervously. “Yeah, Nino’s parents told them.”

Nino made a peace sign. Elena assumed that was reflexive. 

Marinette reached over and placed her hand on top of Adrien’s. “Good. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that. You didn’t deserve that.”

“She’s right,” Elena said. “You didn’t deserve that.”

Adrien didn’t take his eyes off of Marinette’s. “Thank you,” he said softly. 

Elena was surprised when Alya rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure nobody else noticed. 

Wait. 

Chloe was looking at Alya with a weirdly mischievous look in her eyes. 

Elena didn’t love that. She made a note to check in with Chloe later that day. Maybe. Depending on what Alya said. 

God, this was a mess. 

\---

“Alya, would you actually stay for a bit?” Elena asked. 

Alya hesitated before waving her friends out the door. She shut the door tightly and sat on the closest chair, only sitting on the edge, not relaxing like she did the previous week. “Yeah?” she asked warily. 

“How was your week?” Elena asked. 

Alya laughed, a short, quick, almost ugly laugh. “Fine. Why?” 

“You seem… pretty upset.” Elena waited. 

She watched as Alya tapped her fingers against her legs and looked around the room. “Um…” Alya hesitated. “Well. I mean. I figured out Ladybug and Chat Noir’s identities.” 

Elena blinked. “Oh.” 

“Yeah, I, um, was walking with them, and Marinette reached over and messed up Adrien’s hair, and… I don’t know. It clicked.” Alya shrugged. “I guess it’s not that big of a deal but it’s really messing with my head. Like, I know I shouldn’t know and I shouldn’t say anything and it’s kind of like everything in my brain is screaming at me to forget but I just… can’t. Obviously. I wish I could.” 

“But they don’t know.”

“No.” 

“Do you want them to?” 

Alya startled, her eyes flying up to meet Elena’s. “Um… I don’t know. I guess I never really thought about that.”

“Hawk Moth has been defeated,” Elena pointed out. “You could tell them and it would probably be fine.” 

“Maybe I’ll run it by Nino first,” Alya said after a moment of hesitation. “You know. Subtly. He’s pretty wise. Sometimes.” Elena was relieved to see the girl crack a smile. 

“That might be a good idea,” she agreed. 

Alya was quiet for a moment before narrowing her eyes. “Wait. So… you know about Ladybug and Chat Noir?” 

Elena was silent. 

Alya was quiet for a moment before gasping. “That’s why you made this group! We’re the five heroes of Paris! Oh my god!” 

Elena shrugged. 

“Ms. Secoureur,” Alya said, laughing, a real laugh this time, “you are cooler than I thought you would be.”

“Thank you,” Elena said, a small smile tugging the corners of her mouth up.


	5. chloe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chloe is... so smart and we love her here. also, more, bigger, better reveals

Chloe was not an idiot. She knew what the group was for. She knew everyone’s identities within the small group that Ms. Secoureur put together oh-so-subtly. Hell, she knew who Hawk Moth was two weeks before he was arrested. 

It didn’t matter. 

She sat quietly while Ms. Secoureur put her lunch down and gathered her papers. She wasn’t in a hurry. 

The therapist, if she even was a therapist, finally nodded. “Yes, Chloe?” 

“I was wondering what you thought about me just telling everybody everybody else’s identities during group this week,” Chloe said. She smiled a little when Ms. Secoureur’s eyes bulged out of her head with shock. 

“What, um, what do you mean?” 

Chloe flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Oh, please, I know you put this little group together because you wanted the heroes of Paris to be able to talk through their emotions after the arrest of Hawk Moth. And it’s great—I’m actually enjoying it quite a lot, which is not something I say often, so you should be proud—but I’m afraid we aren’t really getting out of it what I believe we could be getting out of it. You know? Because, for some ridiculous reason, my co-workers, if you can call them that, have not realized each other’s identities. Or, well, not fully.” 

“Okay…” 

Chloe was pleased to see how baffled Ms. Secoureur looked. “The group would be much more efficient if everyone knew everyone’s identities so we could actually talk about things we’ve been through without having to be cagey and mysterious. I know Marinette is deadly serious about her identity, but she would definitely appreciate knowing that Adrien is Chat Noir, if you know what I mean.” 

“I… Chloe, I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Ms. Secoureur said. She still looked mildly bewildered. “Um… That’s up to them to reveal their identities to each other.” 

“Well, it’s only a matter of time, anyway, I suppose. Ever since Alya figured out who they were and revealed it to Nino, I mean, it was only a matter of time.” Chloe shrugged and stood, having done what she came to do. 

“Wait, Chloe—please sit back down.” Ms. Secoureur smiled in a way that Chloe assumed was meant to be encouraging. 

“Alright.” Chloe sat and looked at her expectantly. 

“How are you coping? Truly?” 

Chloe was surprised by the question. 

If she was honest with herself—she hadn’t thought anybody had actually cared. 

“I’ve been fine,” she said. “Um. Sort of. It’s been weird to have Adrien be so gloomy and the rest of their tiny squad be trying to cheer him up all the time. And there’s been some weird stuff happening in my chest that I don’t love, but I think it’s probably just a weird physical symptom of stress that I need to work through before it goes away.” 

Ms. Secoureur frowned. “What sort of stuff in your chest?” 

“I don’t know. Weird pains. Sometimes it feels like my heart is being squeezed and I can’t really breathe, but then I just tell myself to get over it and I do.” Chloe suddenly was uncomfortable with this conversation. 

“Chloe…” 

“And I’m sure it’s not a panic attack because only weak people have panic attacks,” Chloe added hastily. “I know you were going to ask, but I did my research, and I know for sure that it’s just weird chest pain.” 

Ms. Secoureur was silent for a moment. “Have you seen a doctor about it?” 

“Doctors are for weak people.” Chloe had a sinking feeling that her weird school counselor was going to be convincing her to see a doctor very soon. 

“Chloe, you either have a physical problem, so you need to see a doctor, or you’re having panic attacks,” Ms. Secoureur said gently. “Which one do you think it is?” 

Chloe stared at her for a moment before rolling her eyes. “Fine, I’ll go see a doctor.” 

Ms. Secoureur nodded calmly. “Okay. Other than that, you’ve been doing well?” 

“Yeah.” Chloe shrugged. “Sometimes, I don’t know, I suppose I feel guilty when I remember that I knew who Hawk Moth was for some time before the arrest happens, and that can make it hard to sleep, but I can generally ignore that.” 

“Ah.” Ms. Secoureur seemed to be unsure of what to say about that statement.

Chloe glanced around the office. “Can I go now?” 

Ms. Secoureur seemed to think for a moment before standing. “Sure thing, Chloe. Feel free to contact me if you need anything. I’ll see you on Wednesday for our group session.” 

Chloe stood and left the office, feeling weird. Her heart was squeezing a little bit in her chest and her throat was feeling tight, but, whatever, it was a ridiculous feeling and she could handle it, so she went to class and fought through it. 

And if she googled ‘symptoms of a panic attack’ while pretending to take notes in biology, whatever. 

\---  
Elena started the group session by asking everybody for a rose and a thorn, as was becoming their custom. 

Marinette started. “My rose for the week was I got to go to a Jagged Stone concert with my friends.” She smiled at her friends around the table. “My thorn for the week was that I was late to school three times this week.” 

“Are you not getting enough sleep?” Elena asked, making a note to herself to check all of their attendance records. 

“Yeah… maybe. I’ve been having more and more nightmares that are sort of turning into these weird dreams where I am, like, awake, but not really awake, I guess, but I can’t really move.” Marinette frowned. “Anyway, next person! Alya! Roses and thorns!” 

Elena bit her lip but allowed the conversation to continue, making another note to explain night terrors to Marinette. And maybe her parents. 

They were about fifteen minutes into the session when Elena asked, “So, on a different topic, does anyone want to explain what their definition of family is?” 

Nino piped up, looking relaxed, as always. “Family can, like, be born or found. Friends and parents and cousins and siblings and best buds and relationships can be family.” He grinned. “All of you are my family.”

Elena noticed with interest that Chloe seemed particularly touched by this. “That’s a lovely definition, Nino.” She watched as Adrien almost spoke for a few seconds. “Adrien? Did you have something to add?” 

“Um…” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, a habit that Elena realized he did quite often. “Yeah. I guess… you are all my friends, and I love you, and I consider you all family, more than I think I ever considered my father family. And, um… I have some other friends who I’m pretty close with who I consider family, and, um, it’s just nice to feel like my family has, I don’t know, grown by, um, eight hundred percent.” 

“Other friends?” Nino asked, sounding more offended than Elena had ever heard him sound before. “Like who?” 

Adrien opened and closed his mouth a few times. “Um… Just some people.” 

Elena saw Chloe open her mouth. She shook her head a tiny bit, her eyes widening. 

Chloe rolled her eyes. “You’re all ridiculous.” 

The other four turned to look at her. 

“Chloe…” Elena said, hoping she sounded at least a little bit authoritative. “Please consider your next words very carefully.”

“I’ve thought about it incredibly carefully for weeks,” Chloe snapped. “For years.” She tilted her head and smiled, an almost cruel smile. “Cesaire, you figured it out, didn’t you? A couple of weeks ago, during our first session.” 

“A few days before that, but yeah,” Alya muttered. “Leave me out of this.” 

“Figured what out?” Marinette asked. She turned to Chloe. “What are you talking about?” 

“I just think it’s ridiculous that this group was intended for us to talk about Hawk Moth and his impact on our lives but we can’t actually talk about it because we’re all still hiding behind stupid masks,” Chloe said. “I mean, it would be so much easier if everyone would just admit who they were and we could move past it and actually talk about the horrible shit Hawk Moth did to us, but you won’t admit to each other who you are.” 

Elena watched as Nino reached over and took Alya’s hand. 

Chloe smirked. “I know you know, too, Lahiffe.” 

“Know what?” Marinette asked, her voice rising in pitch. “What are you guys keeping a secret from me?” 

“Oh, we’re not,” Chloe said. “You know our identities.” She pointed to herself, to Alya, to Nino. “But he’s keeping a secret from you.” She pointed at Adrien. 

“Maybe we should all calm down,” Elena started. 

“Adrien?” Marinette whispered.

“And, I guess, technically, everyone here is keeping a secret from Adrien, though how he could be so oblivious is beyond me.” Chloe laughed. 

Elena winced. She was starting to hate that cruel laugh. 

Adrien flushed and stood abruptly. “Chloe, you’re not being…”

“Kind?” Chloe finished for him. “I know it doesn’t seem like it. But, whether you like it or not, this is the only way to make you truly happy.” 

“Chloe, no,” Alya whispered. “She’s going to be so mad.” 

“Chat Noir,” Chloe said, motioning to Adrien, “say hello to Ladybug.” 

Adrien turned to look at Marinette, his eyes wide. “Ladybug?” he whispered. 

Marinette looked back at him, her own eyes wide, before turning to Chloe. “How dare you?!” she shrieked, jumping up and lunging towards the blonde girl. 

Elena found herself moving of her own accord, moving in between the two students and shielding herself so she wouldn’t get seriously hurt. “Hey!” she shouted, right before Marinette’s body slammed into hers. 

Marinette gasped and jumped backwards, clapping her hands over her mouth. “Oh my god!” she whimpered. “I’m so sorry!” 

Elena grunted and stood up from the ground slowly. “It’s fine. I’m young; I’ll live.” She paused and walked over to the list of group rules. “But I think it’s time we read through these again.” 

Chloe sat down at her spot and gazed at Elena with what seemed to be… was that admiration?... in her eyes. 

Marinette and Adrien slowly sat down. 

Elena sighed. “Rule number one. We will respect everybody’s opinion and be kind to each other.” She glanced at all of them. “Can we follow that rule?” 

She smiled when everyone nodded mutely. “Good. Rule number two.” 

\---  
Chloe strode towards the hotel with determined steps. She usually didn’t walk, but today seemed like a special occasion. She had revealed everyone’s identities to each other and had gotten a referral on top of that, so she had a lot of power walking to do in order to clear her head. 

She couldn’t believe how calm Ms. Secoureur had remained even through that, admittedly tense, group session. She definitely would not have been able to be bowled over by a superhero, get up off the ground, and force everyone to agree to the rules like that. 

She liked Ms. Secoureur a lot, if she was honest with herself. 

The zip of a yoyo forced her to abandon her thoughts for the time being. Chloe glanced around and waved at Ladybug. “Hi,” she said. 

Ladybug studied her from a nearby rooftop before dropping down to the ground level. “Hello, Chloe,” she said, her tone wary.

“Ladybug,” Chloe said calmly. 

“What you did today wasn’t cool.” 

Chloe nodded. “I know. But I think it was necessary.” 

“Why?” Ladybug asked. “Why is it necessary for us to know each other’s identities?” 

“Please,” Chloe scoffed. “Think about it for a minute. Now that we know each other’s identities, we can help each other in more than one way. We can talk about things that happened with candid, open conversations. We can help each other when we need to escape. We can keep an eye out for each other. So many things were cleared up when I realized your identity. You have to realize this is ultimately a good thing, especially since Hawk Moth is no longer in the picture.” 

Ladybug bit her lip and glanced away. 

“Plus, now you and Adrien can stop cock-blocking each other,” Chloe added, smirking a tiny bit.

Ladybug’s eyes flew to Chloe’s face. “What?” she asked. 

“You haven’t thought that part through?” She laughed. “Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.” 

Ladybug was silent for a moment before gasping. “I like Adrien… who is…” she lowered her voice. “Chat Noir, who likes Ladybug, who is me.” Her eyes got even bigger, somehow. “Oh my god.” 

“There it is,” Chloe said. 

“Oh my god!” Ladybug exclaimed. “All these years, we were…”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” she demanded. 

Chloe shrugged. “Secret identities.” 

Ladybug groaned. “Ugh, I hate those.”

Chloe laughed. “Yeah, me too.” She motioned towards Ladybug’s yoyo. “Hey, since you’re here, want to give me a ride?” 

Startled, Ladybug stared at Chloe for a moment before breaking into a laugh. She wrapped her arm around Chloe’s waist. “Hold on,” she said before swinging Chloe to the hotel. 

Chloe decided that the extreme tension from earlier in the day (and the almost-fight) were definitely worth it if this was the result. 

She smiled to herself. God, she was smart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi y'all! i graduated with my master's degree today and i'm going on vacation so i just uploaded three chapters. i hope you enjoy them!! i'll post more when i get home in about a week :) 
> 
> please review!! comments make me happyyyy


	6. nino

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he really just wants to make sure all his friends are okay.

Nino Lahiffe was generally a really chill dude. He liked to create music, spend time with his friends and girlfriend, take walks sometimes, play video games. He also liked that he got to be Carapace every once in a while, although, the only people who knew that were Alya and Ladybug. He couldn’t even tell his best bud.

Until now. 

He sat silently at a table in a café near the school, eating steadily as he subtly eyed Adrien. His best bud in the whole wide world, who was apparently Chat Noir—which was too cool, if he was being honest with himself—was having a slight mental breakdown in front of him. 

Nino picked up his spoon and twirled it in his fingers, wondering if he could find some way to integrate regular sounds, like spoons tapping the table or cars breaking, into his music without making it seem too weird. 

Adrien shifted and opened his mouth. 

Nino put the spoon down and waited. 

“Did you know I was Chat Noir?” Adrien whispered. 

Nino hated how red Adrien’s eyes were. “No, dude,” he said. “Well, not until, like, Alya told me. Like, three days ago or something.” 

“Why didn’t you say anything then?” 

He shrugged. “It didn’t seem like the right time. You’re clearly struggling with some stuff, dude. I just wanted to be there for Adrien. Chat Noir could wait.” 

Adrien smiled at that.

They sat in silence for a while. 

“I can’t believe all of my best friends are also my best friends,” Adrien said with a wry little laugh that Nino didn’t like. It usually meant something self-deprecating was about to come out of his mouth. “Figures I wouldn’t be able to make two sets of friends.”

There it was.

“You absolutely could,” Nino said, feeling an odd amount of frustration rising in him. “You did. We didn’t know it was you. Marinette knew who all of us were, and she still didn’t know who you were, and she was still—” he lowered his voice— “Chat Noir’s friend, in both of her identities, so what does that tell you about yourself?” 

Adrien frowned and ran his hand through his hair. He hadn’t been gelling it for a while, not since he realized it was another way for him to get back at his old man. Nino kind of digged it that way, if he was honest. It made him look free. 

“I guess it says that both Adrien and Chat Noir are worth being friends with,” Adrien said, scrunching his nose in a way that was sort of reminiscent of Chloe. 

“Yeah, dude. And now you can be you around us.” Nino paused. “You can be… whoever you really are. Whether that’s Adrien or Chat or a mixture or someone totally different. We know you, dude. And we like you.” 

Adrien sniffed and roughly wiped a tear away from his face. “Can we just go home?” he asked, his voice small. 

Nino nodded and stood, pulling his wallet out. “Yeah, dude. Let’s go home.” 

As they walked out the door, Adrien bumped Nino’s shoulder with his own. “Hey, man. If you ever decide you don’t want to be a musician, you could look into counseling. You’re pretty good at it.” 

Nino was surprised but gave that thought careful consideration. He did like to help people, and he did need a more solid career choice (just in case), and he was very patient, which meant that he was good at helping people. “Hey.” Nino reached over and grabbed Adrien’s hand, grinning when Adrien immediately tightened his fingers around Nino’s. “That’s a super good idea. Thanks, man.” 

Adrien nodded, his face slightly red. “Yeah,” he said, his voice husky. “I love you, dude.”

Nino grinned. “Love you, too.” 

\---

Elena took (another) deep breath and smiled in what she hoped was an encouraging manner. “Nino,” she said, opening the door and ushering him into her office. “How are you?” 

“Fine,” he said, bobbing his head up and down like a turtle. 

“I’m glad,” she said. “Does your teacher know you’re here?” 

He nodded. 

“Okay.” Elena motioned for him to sit and sat across from him. “So. What brings you here?” 

“Uh, well…” Nino rubbed his arm sheepishly, over a green bracelet that Elena felt weirdly drawn towards. 

His miraculous, most likely. 

“I guess I just wanted to check in with you and let you know that Adrien is having a really hard time since yesterday,” Nino said slowly, carefully. 

“Okay,” Elena said. “I actually was going to check in with him, but thank you for letting me know.” 

“Okay.” Nino shrugged. “That’s really all I came to say.”

“Um… how are you doing? Since yesterday,” Elena clarified. She had no idea what this kid was thinking, honestly. 

“I’m fine. Worried for everyone.” He frowned. “Marinette is still mad, Alya says, and Chloe seems to be on the verge of a panic attack almost constantly, but she won’t admit it to anyone. And Alya is, like, kind of miserable. So, I’m good, but they’re not, which makes me bummed.” 

“I see.” Elena let the silence stretch for a while, hoping he would add something. 

“Um…” Nino avoided her eyes for a moment. “I guess I’m also a little sad, maybe.” 

“Why’s that?” she asked. 

“Because my friends are all hurting, and because of that, they don’t realize how truly awesome it is that we know each other’s identities.” He shrugged. “It would be cool to just hang out with them as a miraculous team without our masks on. Maybe watch movies. That kind of thing. But they’re all upset with each other so we can’t.”

“Oh.” Elena smiled. “Nino, it makes sense that you’re sad. I’m sorry that you are. But even though it will probably take some time, I’m sure that will come. The team will forgive each other. Everyone will settle into their new roles and their new knowledge and you’ll be able to spend time together in a more meaningful way.” 

“You think?” 

Elena felt her heart twinge a little bit as Nino’s eyes stared straight into hers. His were large and watery and so, so hopeful. 

“I do,” she said, carefully. “I think that will happen. But only with time. That means not pushing people, you know.” 

“Yeah.” Nino sighed and slumped a little bit into his chair. “But most of all I want Adrien to find some peace. The dude’s been through a lot.”

“I know. And I’m proud of you for being there for him.” Elena smiled. 

“Thanks,” Nino said quietly. 

“Do you have anything else you want to say?” she asked. 

“Oh, yeah! I wanted to tell you that Adrien got a therapist. Yesterday, actually. Pretty good timing, too.” Nino smiled, a real smile that made Elena feel a little bit better. “I’m hoping it can get him through all the crap in his head. Like, oh, his dad is Hawk Moth and abused both sides of his identity, and his weird assistant-slash-pseudo-mother was helping him all this time which means she was also hurting Adrien, and his real mother was not really dead but not really alive all this time and now she’s actually maybe dead, and he was only thirteen when he got his miraculous, so basically, he has a lot happening and I’m just a kid who can’t really help him. So, yeah, I’m glad he got a therapist.” 

“Oh,” Elena said. “That’s good. I’m glad to hear that.” She made a mental note to freak out about all that was happening with Adrien later. 

“Yeah. So that’s all I wanted, I guess. I think I’m going to go back to class now.” Nino jerked his thumb in the vague direction of his classroom. 

“Okay, Nino. Thanks for the updates,” Elena said. 

“Thanks, Ms. Secoureur!” Nino said, sounding a lot more cheery than he had when he entered the room. “I’ll see you during group!” 

“Okay.” 

Elena watched him go, feeling almost dazed at all the information Nino had just thrown at her. 

She sighed and called the office. “Please send me Adrien Agreste at the next bell. Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all your kind comments!! i love reading through them! they make me happy!! 
> 
> anyway. give nino some love because he deserves the whole world


	7. adrien

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> adrien has a lot of feelings. some are bad. some, surprisingly, are good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry not sorry for the looooooong chapter

“Hi, Adrien, please come in,” Elena said. 

He looked like a mess. His hair was loose and in his eyes. His shirt, which looked like a generic, cheap shirt that his father would never have let him wear, was rumpled and had a stain on it. He had on sweatpants, and his eyes were weirdly bloodshot. 

“How are you?” Elena asked. 

“God, a little bit of a mess,” he said with a quiet laugh, brushing his hair back. “Kind of wish I was at home sleeping right now.” 

“Yeah, I bet.” Elena was silent for a moment. 

“I can’t believe they all knew,” Adrien whispered. “They all knew someone else’s secret identity, and I was the only dumb one left in the dark.” 

“You didn’t know anyone’s?” Elena asked. “Besides Chloe, of course.” 

“Well, no.” Adrien sighed. “It’s always been that way, though, from the very beginning. Ladybug always got all the information and I got to be kept in the dark until the very last minute. And I’ve always hated it, but that was what Master Fu wanted to do, so that’s what happened.” 

“Master Fu?” Elena asked. 

He yawned and leaned his head into his hands. “Um, he’s the guardian, like, um… yeah, he gave us our miraculous all those years ago.” 

He looked like a weary traveler. 

Elena felt her heart pang with sadness and anger. “Did he know how old you kids were?” she asked, hoping her tone sounded casual. 

“Yeah,” he said, his eyes fluttering closed. “Yeah, he knew.” 

Merde. 

“I’m sorry they always kept you in the dark,” Elena said after a moment. “You didn’t deserve that.” 

“No,” Adrien said. “No, I didn’t.” 

“What are you going to do now that you know?” 

“Now that I know what?” he asked, lifting his head slightly to peer at her through half-closed eyes. “I made a list of new discoveries.” Grabbing his phone, he opened it up to an app and slid it across the table towards her. “Read it.” 

Elena frowned but took the phone. 

1\. My father was emotionally abusing me for years.   
2\. My mom played a part in that abuse.   
3\. My father is Hawk Moth.   
4\. Nathalie helped him and was Mayura.   
5\. I died multiple times because of my father.   
6\. My father was keeping Mom alive in a weird underground sanctum.   
7\. My house has a weird underground sanctum.   
8\. Chloe knew that father was Hawk Moth for two weeks before Ladybug found out and got him arrested.   
9\. My trust fund is enough that I’ll never have to work again for the rest of my life.   
10\. Nino Lahiffe is an incredible friend.   
11\. I need a therapist.   
12\. I know Ladybug’s, Rena Rouge’s, and Carapace’s identities now.   
13\. I like my hair when it doesn’t have hair gel in it.   
14\. Ladybug is in love with me. 

Elena nodded slowly and passed the phone back to Adrien. 

“I don’t know what to do about these,” he said. “There’s too much.” 

“So,” Elena said, “pick the ones that you can do something about. Choose, um, three things. And do something about them.” 

“But which three things?” he asked. 

She thought back over that list for a second. “What do you think would be the easiest to start with?” 

“Maybe…” He frowned and looked at his phone. “I could tell Nino what a great friend he is.” 

“Yes,” she said, encouraged. “Yes, you absolutely could. Check it off the list.” 

“I could gain access to my trust fund.” Adrien sounded more confident now. “That way I know I can get money any time I need it.” 

“Okay, that’s a good idea. And?” 

“I already got a therapist, so I can actually mark that as done.” He nodded slowly. “I could… I don’t put gel in my hair anymore.” 

“It looks like it,” Elena said. 

His eyes snapped to hers, narrowed. “What does that mean?” 

She shrugged. “Um, just that you haven’t put gel in your hair for a while. Not a bad thing.”

He still looked tense. “Okay.” 

“You could talk to your friends about their identities,” Elena suggested softly after a moment. “Not accusing them of anything. Not asking them to explain themselves or getting mad at them for knowing yours. Just talking with them about this huge thing you have in common.” 

Adrien’s eyes were wide and he looked like he was about to flee. 

“Or not,” Elena said quickly. “You obviously don’t have to. But maybe that will be a next step at some point.”

He nodded, looking down at his phone again. “Yeah, that would probably be good for me.” 

“Yeah.” 

Adrien was frozen, looking at his lock screen. 

It was a picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir laughing. 

Elena smiled. “It’ll take time, but you’ll get there,” she said softly. 

“I know.” He smiled at her, a soft, but real, smile. “Thank you.” 

\---

“Hey, Marinette?” Adrien asked. He felt his heart pounding against his chest and struggled to keep from wiping the sweat from his forehead. 

“Yeah?” she asked, glancing up at him in surprise. 

“Um…” Adrien glanced around the classroom, where more than a few classmates were looking at them with thinly veiled curiosity. He lowered his voice. “Do you think we could hang out after school for a bit and just… talk?” 

She smiled and nodded. “My house?” 

“Sure,” he said, a rush of relief passing over him. “I would love that.” 

Later, he regretted that he didn’t say ‘It’s a date’, but it probably wasn’t the time for that. 

“It’ll take time,” he whispered to himself, remembering Ms. Secoureur’s words. “And I have lots of time on my hands.” 

\---

“Ready?” Marinette asked, showing up next to him and scaring the living daylights out of him. 

After Adrien righted himself and felt his heart rate calm down just slightly, he turned to look at her, forcing a smile onto his face. “Yeah,” he said quietly. 

She looked at him quizzically, her face reminding him of Ladybug’s. 

Because Marinette was Ladybug. 

God. 

Adrien walked with her quietly to her house, hyper-aware of how many people were out and about on the streets today. If he had been transformed, he was sure that his tail would be up and his ears would be swiveling as he walked through the streets. 

Marinette was quiet next to him, but he could feel the weight of her gaze every once in a while. 

He was probably making her nervous. Not a surprise. He had always made her nervous. 

Once he had found out her identity, he and Plagg had a long conversation about how Marinette, who was Ladybug, was not in love with Chat Noir because she was in love with Adrien, who was Chat Noir, which meant that they had been stopping each other in an endless love triangle or square thing. Adrien hated it. The wasted years felt a little bitter in his heart. 

He was pulled from his musings when Marinette pulled open the door the bakery, greeted her parents, and led him upstairs. 

Once he was sitting on a chair across from her, a cup of tea in his hands, Marinette leaned forward. “Adrien,” she said. 

“Mhm?” he asked, his voice weirdly high. 

His hands were shaking. 

“I know this is a really dumb question, but I have to ask. Are you okay?” 

Adrien forced himself to look into her eyes. Her face was open, earnest. Honest. 

He was in love with her. 

He really had the worst timing. 

“Um, uh, yeah, I guess. I’m weirdly shaky and maybe nervous, but yeah, I’m pretty okay, thanks for asking.” He gave her a small smile that he hoped was convincing. 

Her eyes narrowed, so it probably wasn’t. 

“What’s wrong, chaton?” she asked quietly. “Right now, in this moment, what’s the matter?” 

His mouth went weirdly dry when she called him ‘chaton’ and he suddenly felt like he couldn’t hold his cup of tea anymore. He set it down with a clatter and pulled his knees to his chest. “Marinette,” he whispered. 

She put down her tea, her eyes wide with worry, and made her way over to sit next to him. “Adrien?” 

Adrien looked at her and wordlessly opened his arms, his hands shaking, his eyes filling with tears. 

Marinette didn’t hesitate before crushing him to her, nuzzling into his neck, holding him tightly around his shoulders. 

He let her hold him and just cried, his first actual cry since his father had… 

Anyway. 

He cried and shook against her, probably ruining her handmade clothes, and he felt his heart swell with love when she never once shifted or complained, instead running her hand up to rub his hair, murmuring kind things about both Adrien and Chat Noir that had Adrien crying harder. 

When he felt the tears begin to slow, he pulled away from her, smiling when Marinette didn’t let him pull all the way back. 

“Thank you,” he whispered. He brushed at her shoulder, soaked with his tears. “I’m sorry.” 

“Adrien, you don’t have to be sorry,” she said. “You deserve to cry and be upset. It’s okay. And I will always be here to help you.” 

“Sorry we couldn’t reveal ourselves on your timing,” he said, feeling a slight thrill at her words but choosing to move on with the conversation. “I know that was important to you.” 

“Chaton, it’s important to me that you’re happy. Please don’t beat yourself up over the poorly timed reveal,” Marinette said, moving her hands up to his face. 

Adrien almost purred when she wiped his tears with her thumbs. If he had been transformed, he was sure he would have. “Okay,” he said. His voice cracked. 

Marinette smiled and kissed his forehead. “You know you’re my best friend, right?” 

“I thought that was Alya,” Adrien said stubbornly. 

“She was,” Marinette said thoughtfully. “But slowly, this dumb black cat and a boy in my class became closer to me than Alya was. I thought it was because Alya was spending more time with her boyfriend and those two other boys were making more of an effort with me, but really it was because the two boys were the same boy,” she booped his nose, “and they were just determined to worm their way into the number one position.” 

“Glad I beat Chloe,” he said, laughing slightly. 

Marinette frowned and pulled back a little. “You will always beat Chloe. I love her, but you are my number one. Always.” 

“You two are sappy,” he heard the familiar voice of his kwami say. 

“Plagg, shush!” he heard a new, super high pitched voice whisper. “They were having a moment!” 

“Yeah, yeah, they’ll have lots of moments,” Plagg said, flying into Adrien’s view. “They’re going to be a gross couple and we both know it.” 

Adrien’s eyes darted to Marinette. Her mouth was agape and she stared at Plagg before quickly glancing at Adrien. 

He smiled when her face turned red. 

“Still,” Tikki flew into view and he looked at her with wonder, “you should let them have this moment. I feel like it’s an important one.” She turned to Adrien and did a weird little bow-twirl thing. “Hello, Adrien! It’s so nice to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you over the years.” 

“Tikki,” Marinette groaned, hiding her face in Adrien’s shoulder. 

He didn’t mind at all. 

“Hi, Tikki,” he said, grinning. “How are you?” 

“I’m good. How are you?” 

Adrien was surprised at how much Tikki seemed to genuinely care. “I’m, um, I’m going through some stuff, but I’m doing alright,” he said, surprised to find that he meant it. 

“Does anyone have cheese?” Plagg interrupted. "Besides the cheese happening right in front of my eyes, I mean."

Marinette laughed and turned to look at him. “Hi, Plagg. Nice to see you again. It’s been a while.” She gasped, startling Adrien. “Oh, now Style Queen makes sense! You didn’t lose your miraculous!” She turned to look at Adrien. “Plagg was lying to me! He escaped before he was trapped by her.” 

“Is that the story you gave?” Adrien asked Plagg, incredulous. “You probably made Ladybug think I was super irresponsible.” 

Marinette flushed at the word ‘Ladybug’. “He did, but I learned that you weren’t after some time, and I figured it was a huge mistake.” 

“Seriously, kids, any cheese in this house?” Plagg asked. “This conversation is boring.” 

Tikki rolled her eyes. “Come with me,” she said. 

Plagg looked mischievous as he followed her, phasing through the walls. 

Adrien turned to look at Marinette again. “So, um…” 

“Yes?” she asked. She looked like she was about to laugh. 

It was a good look on her. 

“Since we’re being honest and stuff, I should probably tell you that I’m in love with you.” Adrien held his breath and immediately regretted the statement. 

Marinette froze, her eyes wide. “What?” she squeaked. 

“I…” He couldn’t go back. “I’m in love with you,” he repeated. 

“With Ladybug?” 

“No,” Adrien insisted, suddenly realizing it was the truth. “No, not with Ladybug. She was two-dimensional and whoever you wanted her to be. No, Marinette, I’m in love with you. The girl behind the mask.” 

He couldn’t quite believe that he had finally found her, and it was someone he had known all along. 

She was frozen, basically on top of him still, before smiling slightly and flushing a deep red. Covering her face with her hands, she whispered, “I’m in love with you, too.” 

“What was that?” Adrien asked. He cupped his hand around his ear. 

He knew he shouldn’t be a little shit, but it was so fun sometimes. 

Marinette groaned and stood up. “I’m in love with you, too, you idiot,” she said. “Now leave me alone.” 

Adrien laughed and jumped up, following her. “Never,” he vowed in a dramatic voice, with a dramatic bow, “I will never leave you alone, Marinette Ladybug Dupain-Cheng.” 

She turned to look at him and smirked, making his face flush. “Promise?” 

He nodded, absolutely sure that he was telling the truth. “Promise.” 

Life wasn’t perfect, but this moment was, so Adrien let himself be happy, if only just for an afternoon. He felt he owed that much to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like things are gonna get better from here on out, friends.


	8. chloe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chloe has been having panic attacks, and she's starting to finally admit it to herself.

Chloe was having another panic attack. 

It had taken a while for her to admit it to herself, but the weird feeling in her stomach, the pangs in her heart, and her shaky limbs and heavy breathing were definitely not a physical flaw. It had to be a panic attack. 

It didn’t help that all of that was accompanied by weird thoughts about how she was worthless and she would die and other stuff like that. 

Chloe did not like these panic attacks very much. 

She sank to the ground and tried to take huge, deep breaths. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. In, two, three, four. Out, two—

“Hey, Chloe,” Kim said, plopping down next to her. “What’s up? Why are you sitting on the floor?” 

Chloe gave him her most withering glance and got up, walking away. 

She wandered for a little bit, just trying to be in the moment, trying to feel something, anything, that wasn’t blinding fear. Even being completely numb would be better at this point. 

She walked into the music room after a quick peek confirmed that it was empty. Going over to the piano, she plunked a key with her finger. 

A single note came out. 

Chloe hadn’t played in years, not since her mom left and stopped making her take lessons, but she could still remember almost every song she had ever played. 

She sat down. 

(All these thoughts were whirling through her head and she hated them. Thoughts about how she was dumb and nobody liked her, how Team Miraculous only tolerated her, thoughts about how Marinette probably actually hated her which meant that Ladybug hated her, thoughts about how she would never be enough for anybody, thoughts about how she was gross for liking girls, thoughts about how she was the biggest asshole on the planet, thoughts, thoughts, thoughts)

She started to play. It wasn’t a song that had ever been written down, but it was her song, the song she had perfected when she was eleven years old, the only song she had ever written. 

Chloe had forgotten how much playing the piano had calmed her down in the past. 

She finished the song and took a deep breath. Her mind was clear. 

A voice spoke up from behind her. “You’re pretty good.” 

Chloe winced and turned around. “Alya,” she said. “Hello.” 

“Hey,” Alya said. “Sorry. When I heard the piano, I assumed it was Adrien in here. I didn’t know you played.” 

“I haven’t, not for almost six years,” Chloe said. “Not since my mom left.”

Alya walked over and sat on the piano bench next to her. “Oh.” She poked at a key. “What made you start again?” 

“I guess I played a song to quiet the insanity in my head,” Chloe said. She glanced at Alya. “Ugh, I mean, I’ve just been feeling very weird and there’s been a lot of noise in my head. Like, bad thoughts about myself.” 

“Oh.” Alya glanced at her quickly. “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s whatever,” Chloe said, shrugging it off. “I don’t even care that much.” 

Really, when she thought about it, Chloe lied so much, and she hated it every time she did. She almost wanted someone to call her out on it every single time she lied, because it would prove that someone was paying attention. 

Nobody ever did, though. 

Alya was quiet by her side. 

“Well, I think I’ll head to class,” Chloe said. She stood and turned to leave. 

“I’ve been dealing with some depression,” Alya said quietly. 

Chloe froze. 

“And I don’t know… I don’t know who to talk to about it. I need to be strong for Marinette. I need to be a good girlfriend for Nino. Adrien doesn’t need my emotions on top of his. And Ms. Secoureur…” Alya shrugged. “I don’t really trust her. I feel bad, but, like, she’s what, a twenty-three-year-old kid just trying to deal with the fact that there are five superheroes in her school? She’s sure to spill some secrets soon.” 

Chloe sat back down. “So you came to me?” she asked incredulously. 

“I don’t know.” Alya shrugged. She pressed another key, causing an F to ring through the music room. “You were here. You seem strong enough for me to lean on you.” She glanced up at Chloe. “I mean, isn’t that why you revealed everyone that day? So we could lean on each other?” 

“I was thinking more so I could hang out with Ladybug in public,” Chloe mused. She glanced at Alya and smiled. “Well, yes, it is nice that we can lean on each other now that everyone knows.” 

“Yeah.” Alya bumped her shoulder with her own. “I’ve never liked you, Chloe.” 

“Gee, thanks,” Chloe said dryly. 

“But you’re all right,” she continued. 

Chloe bit her lip, suddenly, irrationally feeling emotional. “Oh,” she said quietly. “Thanks. You… you are too.” 

Alya’s eyebrows flew up in surprise. 

“I mean, you’re like, a good reporter, or whatever,” Chloe muttered. 

Alya smiled slightly. 

“Ugh, I have to go,” Chloe said. “Bye, Cesaire.” 

“Bye, Chloe, my bestest friend ever,” Alya called after her as Chloe rushed out of the room, her face red. 

She found a secluded spot in the library and sat down, covering her face. Chloe felt weirdly embarrassed but also… somehow touched. 

She hated that she was friends with Alya. Who was she becoming? 

\---

 

“What’s up, Chloe?” Elena eyed the girl sitting across from her with concern. Chloe was usually the most unruffled teenager in the school, and she always acted like she knew who she was and liked herself, but today… 

Chloe sat with hunched shoulders and let her hair fall out of a messy bun. She wore her usual makeup but it was more reminiscent of a middle school girl, with blue going all the way up her eyelid and lip liner making her mouth bigger than it actually was. Weirdest of all, she was wearing a nice yellow blazer paired with dark grey sweatpants.

It was a concerning sight. 

“Ms. Secoureur,” Chloe said, her tone brisk and clipped, “I have been having panic attacks at a pretty regular interval and I’m becoming quite stressed and frustrated about them. Do you have any resources for me to use so I can work through these?” 

Elena blinked in surprise. “Um, yes, I do. I actually like to use some YouTube videos, um, that are intended for small children, but they absolutely work for older students, too. Would those interest you? They can walk you through calming down.” She reached for her laptop as she spoke, opening up a link. “I also have some pamphlets you can use if you want so you can read through some things to do.” 

“Show me the videos,” Chloe said. She did sound frustrated. 

“Okay.” Elena started a video and sat back. She eyed Chloe as the video played. Chloe did not follow any of the instructions, but she seemed engaged, so Elena counted it as a win. 

“Hmm. Would you email me that link?” Chloe asked when the video ended. “That could help me through it.” 

“Okay.” Elena waited. 

Chloe pursed her lips and sighed. “Am I… am I weak?” she asked in a small voice. 

“Weak? Because you have panic attacks?” 

“Yeah. Only weak people have panic attacks. Like, what if the world finds out that one of their superheroes gets panic attacks?” 

Elena smiled and leaned forward. “Chloe. If people were to find out that Queen Bee, one of Paris’s superheroes, got panic attacks regularly and still fought through them, they would probably be amazed and proud of you.” 

Chloe’s eyes snapped up to meet hers. “Proud of me?” 

Oh. 

“Yes,” Elena insisted. “Yes, they would be proud of you.”

The way Chloe relaxed at those words made Elena’s heart ache for the teenager. 

How often did someone tell her they were proud of her?

“I’m proud of you,” Elena said quietly.

Chloe flushed and nodded. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “I’ll take that pamphlet now.” 

Elena smiled and handed it to her. “Chloe?” 

Chloe stopped, halfway to the door. “Yes?” 

“You’re a great superhero, and you’re a good person.” 

Chloe nodded and blinked furiously, obviously trying to hold back tears. “Thank you, Ms. Secoureur. I really… um, I really do appreciate that. Probably more than you realize.” 

Elena nodded and watched Chloe leave, her head held high, clutching the pamphlet tightly in her hand. 

She opened her email and sent the link to the YouTube video to Chloe. 

Hopefully she could help these children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can u even imagine being these kids' counselor lmao
> 
> youtube video referenced is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRkILioT_NA


	9. elena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> elena tries to relax, calls her mom, and gets an address for someone she probably should talk to.

Sometimes Elena Secoureur felt like a child. This was one of those times. 

She had just had a weird conversation with Marinette, who was being super cagey about her relationship with Adrien, and she was clearly happy about something that had happened, but she was also incredibly stressed about something else, and she wouldn’t open up about it, which seemed weird, considering the fact that she had told Elena that she was Ladybug, which was, like, her biggest secret. 

Elena wondered again why she had taken this job. She thought it would be fun to work in France for a couple of years, complete her counseling internship in a different country, and maybe see a few superpowered individuals while she was at it, but she had never expected all of this. 

She collapsed on her couch and screamed into her pillow. 

“Hey,” she heard her roommate say. 

Elena looked up and smiled wearily. “Hey,” she said. “Just yelling.”

“It’s good for you,” Daniel said, shrugging. “Bad day?” 

“Yeah. Just a lot happening with a few of my students right now and I don’t feel qualified to deal with all of it.” Elena laughed, hoping her tone sounded sarcastic or weird or anything other than completely sincere. 

From the look Daniel gave her, she wasn’t sure she pulled that off. “Want me to make you some pancakes?” 

“I would love that,” she groaned. “You’re a doll.” 

He grinned at her and disappeared back into the kitchen. “Too bad you don’t drink,” he said through the wall. “You could just forget all your troubles and your students’ troubles for one evening.” 

With a start, Elena realized how grateful she was that she didn’t drink. There was no telling whose secret identities she might give away while under the influence. “Oh, yeah,” she said, laughing awkwardly. “It’s too bad.” 

Daniel reappeared after a few minutes, at which point Elena was lying on the couch, watching Pride and Prejudice for the millionth time. He smiled fondly at her and she returned the smile. “So, a really, really bad day,” he said. 

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “I’ll probably go to bed early and call my mom. She’ll be eating lunch in a few hours.”

“How you manage to remember the time difference from here to Wyoming so well is beyond me,” Daniel said, plopping down at her feet and handing over a plate of pancakes. 

Elena felt her mouth water when she saw the food. Had she eaten today? She thought about that briefly before deciding to forget it. It was impossible to remember to eat on the job when she had busy days like today. 

“I just have a psychic connection with my mom so I always know what time it is where she is,” she said through mouthfuls of food.

He laughed and turned the volume on the television up. “Shh, Mr. Collins is here.”

She grinned. 

“My, what excellent boiled potatoes,” Daniel said in time with Mr. Collins. 

Elena threw a pillow at him. 

\---

“Hello?” 

“Hi, Mom,” Elena said, clutching the phone a little bit closer to her ear. “How are you?” 

“Elena! I’m great!” Her mom sounded so happy to be hearing from her daughter. “How are you?” 

“I’m okay,” she said, waiting for her mom’s response. 

“Alright, I know I’m, like, thousands of miles away and can’t even see your face, but I know when my only daughter is upset,” her mom said, like Elena knew she would. “What’s going on?” 

“Um…” Elena searched for the words before sighing. “Mom, I’m about to tell you some vague but incredibly top-secret stuff. Can you promise you won’t tell anyone? Ever? Because otherwise, I can’t tell you what’s going on with me.” 

“Oh, honey, who would I tell? The cows? Go ahead. I won’t tell anyone.” 

Relieved, Elena began to recount, without using any names, the story from the past few weeks. Hawk Moth’s arrest, helping someone close to Hawk Moth, finding out he was one of the superheroes who arrested him, finding out all of the superheroes from Paris were in the same class, dealing with the ethical implications of knowing so much about how the superheroes were given their powers versus how old they all were, having to deal with all of this knowledge all by herself…

“I just, I don’t know, I’m twenty-three and I’m so tired and I still feel like a kid most of the time. Like, I’m a child who moved to a big city in a foreign continent and I have no fucking idea what I’m doing,” Elena said in a rush, feeling like the words had been building in her for a while. “I don’t know how to help these kids. The nice thing is, now that they’ve revealed themselves, they seem to be helping each other a lot, but I’m supposed to also be helping them and I don’t feel like I’m doing that effectively and I have no idea what to do.” 

She took a deep breath and waited for the wise response she knew was coming. 

“Elena… You are good at your job.”

If Elena was honest, that was not the response she had been expecting. “What?” 

“You do good work. You’ve made these kids all come together. It seems like you had to do some detective work to figure out who all of the kids were?” 

Elena nodded before remembering they were on the phone. “Yeah.”

“You brought them all together and gave them a space to work out all of their feelings. And, sure, maybe without that they wouldn’t have revealed themselves to each other, and then the drama that you perceive to be happening between them wouldn’t be happening.” 

Elena frowned. “Yeah, that kind of is my fault, I guess.”

“But you have helped them so much, maybe without even realizing how much you have. I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Elena felt a smile spread across her face. 

“Now. On a really serious note.” 

“Oh?” The smile dropped. 

“You know who gave these kids their powers? Because he should absolutely be reported for handing these superpowers to thirteen-year-olds.” 

Elena smiled again, a tiny smile. “Yeah, they called him Master Fu, but I looked that up and didn’t find anyone with that name except for a cartoon character from a weird children’s cartoon. I don’t think I can find him and talk to him, and besides, I don’t think it would be ethical.” 

“Oh, let me Google that.” 

Elena could hear her mom clicking some buttons on her laptop and some off-key humming that made her heart hurt. She missed her mom so much, missed the simplicity of living in Wyoming, speaking English all the time, not having to deal with superpowered teens. What she wouldn’t give for just a two week vacation to forget all of this for a while. 

She straightened her shoulders and shook her head. Her students needed her. She wouldn’t leave, even if it sounded nice. 

“Okay, honey?” 

“Did you find something?” Elena asked. 

“Yeah, there’s a man who has gone by that name but hasn’t for, like, fifty years, who owns a tea shop… or maybe a massage place… near the Seine,” her mom said. “I’ll email you the address. If you ever decide you want to talk to him, you’ll know where to go.” 

“Wow,” Elena said, surprised. “You found that fast.”

“I often Google people and do random background checks on them,” her mom said, like it was the most normal thing in the world. “It helps the time pass.” 

“Uh… okay,” she said, not really sure how to respond. “Well, thanks, Mom. How’s everything back home?” 

She listened to her mom talk for a while before she suddenly yawned. “Sorry, I should sleep.” 

“Oh! Right. Well, it was nice to talk to you, sweetheart. I’ll send you that email.”

“Thanks, Mom. I love you.” 

“I love you.” 

They traded final goodbyes before Elena hung up. She smiled at her phone and started her bedtime routine. 

Elena was brushing her teeth when her phone vibrated with a notification. She opened up an email from her mom and sighed. 

Master Fu lived very close to her. 

She hated ethical dilemmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is like my worst nightmare as a school counselor. if i get a case load like this i'll probably just quit not gonna lie


	10. marinette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they're moving on, but marinette is still afraid of something.

Marinette went upstairs, dragging Adrien behind her, a small smile on her face. “It’s going to be fine, I promise,” she said. 

He dragged his feet behind her, following only slightly willingly. “Remember what happened last time I had dinner with your parents?” he said. “Because I do, and it wasn’t great.”

“My dad is not going to be akumatized,” she said, sobering suddenly at the implication of that statement. “Besides, he was upset last time because you didn’t like me back, and now you do, so it should be fine.”

She heard Adrien grunt behind her in response and smiled to herself. Her parents had been very excited when she announced that she was going on a date with Adrien and had insisted he come over for dinner. 

“I just want to hug that boy forever and ever,” Sabine had said, her face creased with worry. “Are you sure he’s doing all right after everything that happened?” 

“Yes, please make him come over and spend time with us,” Tom had added eagerly, already planning a menu for dinner. “We insist!” 

And so here they were, about to eat dinner. 

Marinette pulled Adrien through the door and smiled at her parents’ reaction. 

“Adrien!” Sabine exclaimed, rushing over to say hello. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before pulling Adrien down into a hug. “Thank you so much for coming over and having dinner with us.” 

He looked shocked but quickly returned the hug. “Thank you for having me,” he said, a gentle smile on his face. 

Marinette was relieved at how all his nerves seemed to have disappeared. The power of a mom hug was strong. 

Tom came over and beamed at Adrien. “Hello, son!” he exclaimed. 

Adrien’s face turned red almost instantly. “Hello, Mr. Dupain,” he said politely. 

“Please, call me Tom!” he said, wrapping Adrien up in a tight hug. “Or you can call me Dad,” he added, winking at Marinette as he did so.

Marinette squeaked and covered her face, embarrassed to find it was already turning red. “Dad,” she said in a warning tone. 

“Okay, okay,” Tom laughed, releasing Adrien and turning to Sabine. “Is dinner ready?”

Sabine nodded. “Yes, the bread should be just about perfect.” She slipped her hand into Tom’s and pulled him into the kitchen. “Please seat yourselves at the dinner table!” she called to the teenagers. 

Marinette felt her heart crack at the wistful look on Adrien’s face. Walking up to him and slipping her hand into his, she smiled when he turned to look at her. “Come on, Kitty,” she said quietly. “Let’s sit down.” 

“I love your house,” he said, following her over to the table. 

“They’re pretty great,” she agreed. “A little embarrassing.” 

“But involved,” Adrien pointed out. 

Marinette sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t try very hard to get to know you before.” 

Adrien blinked at her, surprise all over his face. “But you did.” He smiled slightly, a mischievous look that made him weirdly look like Plagg. “Because you liked me, in a romantic sense.” 

Marinette flushed and looked away from his (beautiful, perfect) face. “No, I mean… Sure, I tried to get to know Adrien, but Chat Noir was clearly lonely and I…” 

She looked back at Adrien when he slipped his hand back into hers and squeezed. “It’s okay,” he whispered. 

“It’s not,” she whispered back. 

“Do you want forgiveness? Because I’ll give that to you. You’re forgiven.” Adrien’s face broke into a huge, radiant… silly? smile. 

Marinette narrowed her eyes at him as she tried to place those words. She gasped after a moment. “That’s a quote from a stupid TV show!” 

“Yeah, but it’s a beautiful quote, and totally applicable,” he said. 

Adrien looked like he wanted to add more but was interrupted by the return of Tom and Sabine, complete with a lot of food. 

Marinette decided to put off their—admittedly pointless—argument until later. For now, they could just be two normal teenagers having dinner with her family. 

\---

Elena was surprised to see Marinette in her office again. From what Nino, who had become some sort of weird informant for her, had said, Marinette was the one who was adjusting the most easily. 

She supposed that didn’t meant that Marinette was adjusting easily, per se, just better than everyone else was. 

“I’m concerned about something,” Marinette said, frowning. A little line appeared between her eyebrows, making her look a little bit older and a lot more stressed. 

“Okay.” Elena shifted so she was sitting more comfortably. 

“Um… what if Master Fu wants us to give back our miraculous?” Marinette asked. 

Okay, that was something she hadn’t even thought of. Elena thought to the slip of paper with Master Fu’s address scrawled on it that she was keeping in her purse. 

Shaking her head slightly to clear it, she smiled a little. “Well, Marinette, would that really be so bad? Do you need your miraculous anymore?” 

“You don’t understand,” she answered, clearly frustrated. 

“Then help me understand,” Elena prompted her. “What would be so bad? Would you miss being Ladybug?” 

“Yeah, I would miss the freedom of it, but more than that…” Marinette hesitated, her hand shaking slightly as it came to rest over her purse. “Um, more than that, I would miss Tikki.” 

“Who’s Tikki?” 

Elena blinked in surprise and recoiled as a small red, bug-like creature came out of Marinette’s purse. 

“Hi!” the creature said. “I’m Tikki! I am the god of creation and I am what bridges the gap between the miraculous and Ladybug.” 

“W-what?” Elena stammered. “You do what?” 

“I make Marinette into Ladybug!” 

Oh, Elena did not like that high-pitched voice very much. 

“Um, yeah, so I’ve had Tikki for over four years now,” Marinette said nervously, a small giggle on her voice that Elena suspected was due to hysteria. “And if Master Fu takes my miraculous, I won’t be able to see Tikki anymore.” 

“Do…” Elena took a deep, calming breath. “Do the other miraculous users have a Tikki?” 

“Well, Tikki is the name of my kwami,” Marinette corrected her slowly. “Every miraculous stone has a kwami attached. But, you know...” She chewed on her lower lip. “Oh, my god.” 

“What’s wrong, Marinette?” Tikki asked. 

“I’ve been relying on you so much to help me get through this,” Marinette said, slowly. “And I know Adrien has been relying on Plagg. I hear them having really intense conversations sometimes. And Alya and Nino both got their miraculous permanently given to them last year, so Wayzz and Trixx are probably helping them. But Chloe was never granted her miraculous permanently, you know, because of the danger.” 

Elena frowned. “So Chloe doesn’t have a… um, a kwami to help her through everything like the rest of you do?” 

“No,” Marinette groaned. “Oh, no.” 

“Well, would it be easy to contact Master Fu and ask if Chloe could have her kwami?” Elena felt like she was grasping at straws. She had no idea what she was saying, really. 

“Yeah, I could just go down there, except…” Marinette hesitated. 

“Except?” 

“Except I don’t know if he’s going to ask for all of our miraculous jewels back!” 

Oh, right. That. Elena felt like they had come full circle. 

“Well…” Oh, God, she could not believe she was about to fucking suggest this. “Maybe I could ask him, as a representative, to get Chloe’s miraculous to her. What’s her kwami’s name?” 

Marinette looked up at her, a shrewd look on her face that made Elena feel like a child all of a sudden. “You would do that?” 

Elena sighed. “I have his address in my purse,” she admitted, “and I’ve been meaning to talk with him anyway. I just haven’t really had the guts to do it for myself, but if it would help you, that would be the push I need to get out there and talk to him.” 

Marinette looked confused but didn’t push it. “Well… I would really appreciate that. Um, if he doesn’t want us to have our miraculous at all, though…” 

“I would tell him to…” Elena stopped herself before she could say ‘fuck off’. She was still a professional. “To let you have the kwamis as coping mechanisms, if nothing else. But maybe if he hasn’t come for them yet, he won’t come at all.” 

“Maybe.” Marinette seemed dubious. “Well, that would really make me feel better, so if you’re serious about that, I would… yeah, I would appreciate that.” 

Elena nodded, a weird sort of dread settling in her heart. “Yep. Sure, I’ll do that for you this afternoon. No problem.” 

Marinette sort of beamed at her before taking her leave. 

Elena wished she had stayed in Wyoming. 

\---

“Chloe?” Marinette asked as she walked over to Chloe’s desk. “Do you wish you had Pollen right now?” 

Chloe’s eyes snapped up to Marinette’s. “Um, duh,” she said. “I would feel so much better with her. But you guys never let me keep her.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you giving me her right now? In class? Never thought you would be so reckless, Dupain-Cheng.” 

“No, no, not right now,” Marinette said, feeling a little bit guilty. “But, uh, Ms. Secoureur volunteered to get your, um, object from, uh, the master this afternoon. If you want.”

She was taken aback when Chloe’s eyes filled with tears and gasped when Chloe stood up and hugged her. “Thank you, Marinette,” she whispered. “I really appreciate that.” 

“Oh,” Marinette said involuntarily. She raised her arms and wrapped them around Chloe’s shoulders. “Of course. I don’t even know how I would have survived this past month without Tikki, and I’m sorry for not thinking of you earlier.” 

Chloe pulled back after another second and wiped her eyes. Marinette glanced around the room, startled to see the whole class was watching. She grinned sheepishly and flushed when she saw how touched Adrien looked. 

She supposed one day she might get used to how Adrien looked at her—like she was his entire world—but it still made her blush. 

Marinette focused back on Chloe and smiled softly. “Friends?” 

Chloe laughed, a little, short laugh. “Can you believe you tried to punch me out just, like, ten days ago?” 

“To be fair, you knew I would get angry,” Marinette answered, still smiling. “You deserved it.”

“You tried to punch Chloe?” Kim piped up. “Awesome!” 

“How come you didn’t?” Alix asked. 

“Ms. Secoureur got in the way,” Chloe answered in her matter-of-fact way. “Otherwise, I’m sure Marinette would have knocked me out.” 

The girls smiled at each other and Marinette felt a little piece of her heart feel lighter. 

“Hey,” Nino piped up. “Ms. Richards will be here in, like, thirty seconds, and you know she’ll want us to all be in our seats.” 

Marinette jumped and ran over to slide into her seat right as their math teacher walked in. 

She jumped when she felt her phone vibrate. Glancing over to make sure Ms. Richards wouldn’t notice, she opened the message. 

Nino: movie tonight? my house? 8? 

Chloe: yeah sure

Adrien: YESSS can we watch a Ghibli movie???? 

Alya: no i hate ghibli ugh 

Marinette smiled and locked her phone, slipping it back into her pocket. 

She would have hated to admit it before, but Chloe was right. It was so nice to know everyone’s identities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> l i s t e n. it's so important to me that they have movie nights. i'm obsessed with that concept. 
> 
> anyway. next we will see elena talk to master fu. whew.


	11. master fu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> confrontation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a short chapter BUT elena rolls her eyes at master fu so i think it's worth it

Elena took a deep breath and steeled herself before turning the doorknob and walking into a small massage parlor near the Seine. 

She glanced around the shop. There was nobody in the front room, but there sure were a lot of old objects. It was weirdly cluttered and Elena felt the urge to force Master Fu to watch Marie Kondo on Netflix. 

She jumped when a small man wearing a Hawaiian shirt came out from the back room. “Hi,” she said. 

“Hello,” he said, bowing slightly. “How may I help you? Did you have an appointment?” 

“No, I didn’t. Sorry,” she added as an after-thought. “Uh, but I’m here, um, on behalf of a few of my students.” 

He raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Uh…” Elena flushed under his piercing gaze. “Sorry, I’m going to start over. Hi, Master Fu, my name is Elena, and I’m the school counselor at the school where all five of Paris’s superheroes go to school.” 

She was amused to note that he seemed shocked by the statement. Elena had a feeling he wasn’t surprised often. 

“Oh,” he said. 

She waited for him to talk for several seconds before taking another deep breath. “Well, anyway, I’m here because Marinette was concerned that you would tell her to give you back her miraculous, but she wanted someone to come find out if Chloe could have her kwami to help her through this hard season in her life.” 

“Come with me,” Master Fu said cryptically, waving her into a small room in the back. 

Elena rolled her eyes and followed him. She glanced around this new room. It had a small kitchen and a bunch of old stuff, similar to the front room. 

Master Fu sat on a small chair and motioned for her to sit. 

She did. 

“Would English be easier for you?” he asked, switching over to speak English with no problem.

Elena hesitated before nodding. “Yes, actually.” 

Master Fu nodded. “I am the Guardian of the Miraculous,” he said. “I have been given the chance to hand out the miraculous jewels as I see fit, as well as assist the miraculous holders towards defeating evil, all while helping them keep all of this a secret.” He raised an eyebrow. “And yet you seem to know everything.” 

“Um, well, I found out Chat Noir’s identity after Hawk Moth was arrested—it was an accident—and then Marinette accidentally said something about standing on rooftops at night and then it wasn’t hard to figure everything else out.” Elena felt weirdly nervous. 

“Yes, I suppose it wouldn’t be,” the old man mused, running a hand through his goatee. “You are very perceptive. Clever.” 

“Yeah,” Elena said, shrugging. “I guess.” 

“So Chloe wants Pollen,” he said, walking over to grab a box. “I should have considered it. I have been busy with cleansing the butterfly miraculous and putting my miraculous box in order, so I did not think of it, but it stands to reason that she would want her kwami.” He set the box down in front of her and entered a code of some sort. 

Elena gasped when the box opened to reveal… what, fifteen or so miraculous. "How many of those stupid things are there?" she whispered very quietly to herself.

“Elena,” Master Fu said in a commanding voice, “I grant you permission to retrieve the bee miraculous and present it to Chloe Bourgeois for permanent placement.”

He reached out and put a hair clip into a super old box, handing it over to Elena. “Be very careful. Gabriel Agreste may be arrested, but there will always be people after the miraculous.” 

Elena swallowed, hard, and nodded. “Yes, Master Fu.” 

He narrowed his eyes and studied her. “You cannot be more than eighteen or nineteen years old. A young age to be taking care of children’s emotions.”

“I’m twenty-three, actually,” Elena said, almost robotically. This was normal. A random thought made her straighten her back and glare at him. “Actually, I have a bone to pick with you.”

His mouth quirked up into a smile. “A strange expression, but go ahead.” 

“You picked thirteen-year-olds to be your superheroes!” Elena exclaimed. “Actual children! You just up and changed the entire direction of their lives before they even knew who they were! Do you have any idea the type of PTSD they have now because of that? I’m not technically allowed to diagnose any sort of mental illness, since I’m not qualified, but it’s clear that they’re all struggling with some intense mental health stuff due to the battles they fought as kids. I don’t even know how all of this is going to affect them as they get older, but I do want to know why on earth you would think picking children would be the best choice for superheroes.” 

Master Fu sat quietly through her small rant before nodding. “I understand it seems like an issue for you.”

“An issue?” she spit out. She sort of hated this man, she realized. “Yes, of fucking course it’s an issue. They’re kids.”

“And because of their age, they were not inhibited by all sorts of adult problems,” he said before she could continue. “They did not have hatred and fear of the other in their hearts. They were non-discriminatory, except perhaps for young Chloe, although she did not receive her miraculous through me, so that was not up to me. However, because they were children, they did not have jobs to consider that would keep them from being able to be effective superheroes. And, best of all, they were still pure of heart. Ladybug and Chat Noir needed to be children with hearts of gold, who were idealistic and kind and willing to help an old man across the street.” His eyes twinkled. 

Oh, Elena hated him. She hated him so much. 

“You chose children because they were the only good people in Paris?” she asked, seething, grinding her teeth. “I know I’ve only been here for a few months, really, but I’m positive that’s not true. I meet good people every single day. There are kind shop owners and tourists and police officers—well, I’ve only really met one good police officer here, but still—and even the celebrities can be good people. I’ve been introduced to several people through my job who just want to help other people, so they contact me in case I have children who need resources. There are people, full-grown adults, who want to help people so badly that they go out and volunteer their own time and money and efforts to help whoever they can. So don’t you dare tell me that they had to be children, because they absolutely did not have to be.” 

He just smiled at her, a small smile that made her insides boil. 

“Well.” Elena stood up suddenly. “I got Pollen, so I suppose I’ll be leaving now.” 

“Elena,” Master Fu said, “I trust that you will keep this all a secret.” 

She frowned. “Only if you promise not to give any more miraculous to children.”

“I cannot promise anything,” he said. 

Elena shook her head. “Then I cannot promise anything. Because legally I’m required to report you if you give these to children since it could easily bring harm to them.” She lifted the box with Chloe’s miraculous inside of it. “If I ever hear of a new superhero in Paris and I decide that they look younger than sixteen, or even around the age, I will not hesitate to call the police or child protective services.” She smiled. “Thank you so much for your cooperation.” 

Turning quickly on her heel, Elena marched away, not glancing back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> maybe not as melodramatic as some of you assumed it would be lol but i like it
> 
> (i can't even make a phone call without having a huge anxiety attack and elena went and murdered master fu [metaphorically] with only mild anxiety. she's my hero.)
> 
> we're pretty close to the end!! keep the comments coming though; they make me so happy!


	12. movie night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just some fluff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um this chapter heavily references disney princess movies and the movie "tag". you don't need to have seen them in order to understand the chapter though. 
> 
> interestingly, i was going to use a different movie (not "tag") but my brother was watching it and i was shocked by the similarity in themes between the movie and this fanfiction so i just had to use it. it is definitely R rated though -- just as a warning. 
> 
> anyway. enjoy. <3

“What movie do we want to watch?” Nino asked, holding up a huge stack of DVDs. He plopped down next to Marinette’s TV and waited for the argument he knew was sure to come. 

“Disney!” Adrien immediately shouted out. 

“No,” Alya vetoed, like Nino knew she would. 

Nino grinned and grabbed his pack of M&Ms. 

“I think we should watch a Spanish film,” Chloe said. “I know where we can actually watch introspective foreign films for free.”

Nino didn’t expect that but he figured it was just Chloe being Chloe. 

“I’m good with whatever anyone wants to watch,” Marinette said. Classic Marinette. 

“I guess I am, too,” Adrien said, immediately folding himself into Marinette’s side, his head leaning against hers. 

Nino would be lying if he said that wasn’t the cutest shit he had ever seen. 

“What if we watch something about a group of five friends who have been best friends for thirty years?” Nino suggested. He was so clever. 

“Oh, I love that!” Marinette exclaimed, like Nino knew she would. 

“Okay,” Alya said, narrowing her eyes at him. “Is that the whole plotline?” 

“Essentially,” he said. He smirked.

“That sounds good to me,” Adrien said. 

“Is it foreign?” Chloe asked. 

“American,” Nino said. He held up ‘Tag’ and raised his eyebrows. “We want to try it?” 

Everybody agreed. Just like he knew they would. He grinned and put the movie in, going back to sit in between Adrien and Alya, turning the volume up when he got there. 

“Hey, this is rated R,” Marinette said, her face wrinkled in confusion. 

“Yeah, there’s some cussing and sexual themes,” Nino said. “But trust me. This is heartwarming. And about friendship. And super fun.” 

Marinette relaxed and pulled Chloe closer. “Oh, okay. Chloe, come on, join us.” 

Chloe smiled and curled into Marinette’s side. 

Seven minutes into the movie, Adrien nudged Nino. “Dude. I love this.” 

Nino grinned at him. “I know.” 

They watched the movie with intermittent laughter and bated breath, and Nino felt everyone relax and, hopefully, love each other more. 

Sometimes he thought he would make a good hippie. 

“I feel like we should watch that movie again and take notes,” Chloe said at the end. She lifted her arms above her head and stretched. “We could use some of Jeremy Renner’s, frankly, ridiculous moves to learn how to fight better.” 

“We don’t need to fight, though,” Adrien said, his voice weirdly muffled. “Because Hawk Moth is gone.” 

Marinette reached over and ruffled Adrien’s hair. “We can still patrol, though. Actually, we probably should, just so we can make sure Paris knows we’re still around.” 

“That’s actually a great idea!” Alya exclaimed. “And then I can post on the Ladyblog that even though Gabriel was arrested and Hawk Moth is gone, the heroes won’t disappear on us. We should patrol right now!” 

Nino frowned and glanced at Chloe. Her face had fallen and she was studying her nails. “Um, we should probably wait for a few more days,” he said. “Just to, you know… make sure we’re all a team and, you know, together when we do.”

“A team?” Adrien asked. He lifted his head and zeroed in on Chloe. “Oh, yeah, you’re right.” 

If Nino wasn’t mistaken, there were unshed tears in Chloe’s eyes. 

“Do you think Ms. Secoureur got Pollen?” Alya asked. 

“I hope so,” Chloe said softly. 

Nino jumped when Tikki appeared. All the kwamis had been playing cards in Marinette’s loft, but Nino should have known that they would all be listening. 

“I’m sure she did!” Tikki said, a big smile on her face. “Your counselor has a big heart and she seems determined. I’m sure she went to Master Fu.” 

“Yeah, she’s like one of my own kittens when riled up,” Plagg said, floating into view. “Angry and calculated and determined.” 

“She would probably be a good miraculous user,” Marinette mused, reaching over to pat Plagg on the head. 

Plagg leaned into her hand and purred. 

“Probably,” Adrien agreed. 

“Hey, who do you think we all correspond to in that movie?” Alya asked suddenly. “Because I know for sure that Nino is Chilly. Always trying to make everybody feel included. He also always seems high.” 

Nino grinned. “And you’re probably Jerry.” 

“Oh, God, I am, aren’t I?” Alya laughed. “I’m so intense. If we played tag for thirty years and I had never been tagged, there’s no saying what I would do.” 

“I’m Callahan,” Chloe said. “Rich and level-headed.” 

They all laughed. 

“Marinette is Hoagie,” Alya said. “Our fearless leader.”

“I guess that makes me Sable.” Adrien paused. “Anxious and a pushover.” 

Marinette frowned and looked at Nino. 

He sighed and reached over to gently hold Adrien’s shoulder. “Dude, you are Sable, but that’s only because you’re the one who works to keep everyone balanced.” 

Adrien smiled slightly. 

“Okay, new movie!” Nino said. 

Wayzz floated into view, making Nino jump. “May we kwamis make a request?” 

“Uh, sure,” Nino said. “What’s up?” 

“We would like to watch the movie with the mermaids,” he said, ever polite and formal. “Please.” 

“The Disney movie?” Nino asked. 

“Yes!” Trixx exclaimed, flying extremely close to Nino’s face. “Yes, we want to watch the Disney movie with the mermaids! I saw it once at Alya’s house—”

“My sisters were watching it,” Alya interjected. 

“And I told the other kwamis about it and they all want to see it!” Trixx finished, beaming at Nino. 

Marinette laughed. “Plagg, you want to watch ‘The Little Mermaid’, too?” 

Plagg rolled his eyes. “I want cheese,” he whined. “And then I want to watch the mermaid movie.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Nino said. “If the god of destruction wants to watch a movie, you let him watch the movie.” 

Plagg pushed his head against Nino’s shoulder and purred. Nino grinned and put the movie in. 

Marinette sighed when Prince Erik arrived. “Isn’t he dreamy?” she asked. 

Chloe scoffed. “He’s got nothing on Prince Philip.” 

“Um, Flynn Rider is the ideal man,” Adrien said. 

This led to a huge discussion about which Disney leading man was the dreamiest. Nino grinned and watched the movie quietly with the kwamis while everyone else fought about it. 

Tikki, at one point, piped up. “I think it’s all a matter of personal taste,” she said. 

“Oh, yeah? And what’s your personal taste, sugarcube?” 

Tikki shoved Plagg and rolled her eyes. “I don’t like any of them like that,” she said, clearly annoyed. “They’re humans.”

Plagg just grinned at her and downed another piece of cheese. 

“This is what I wanted from the beginning,” Nino said, surprised to hear himself talking. 

Slowly, everybody stopped arguing and turned to look at him. 

“What?” Marinette asked, reaching over to pause the movie.

“I just wanted all of us to be able to hang out and do things together, like, as a team, but also as friends.” Nino shrugged. “And here we are. It’s kind of a dream come true for me.” 

He glanced around at his friends, all who looked very surprised and touched, and shrugged again. “Anyway. Continue your argument.”

He smiled when Alya slung her arm around him. “Aw, that’s so sweet, babe,” she said. “I like this, too. And once we have Pollen again, we’ll be able to do things as a team as well.” 

Adrien nodded eagerly. “I would love to transform again, actually. I haven’t done it in over a month at this point.” 

Alya tilted her head and studied him. “You haven’t transformed since the arrest?” 

Adrien shook his head. “It felt wrong. Now I just miss it, the freedom of being Chat Noir.” 

“Hmm.” Alya nodded slowly. 

“Don’t put it on the Ladyblog,” Nino chided her, essentially reading her mind. “It’s not cool.” 

“Yeah, ‘where are your ethics’, Alya?” Chloe asked, a tiny smile on her face. 

Alya looked like she was about to be mad before bursting into laughter. “Oh, it’s a quote from Tag. I was about to be really angry with you for saying that.” 

“I know.” Chloe grinned. 

“Good, now can we all be quiet so we can watch the movie?” Trixx complained. 

Marinette reached over and hit play. 

Nino looked around at his friends and grinned. This really was all he had wanted. 

He was reminded of what Stitch had said: “This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah. Still good.”

Nino wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he really did like Disney movies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *chanting* pollen, pollen, pollen, pollen!! 
> 
> i love these kids. one big happy family. that's all i want from this show. 
> 
> a fun question: what do you think each characters' favorite disney movie is?


	13. kwamis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chloe gets pollen. elena gets a surprise.

Elena adjusted her shirt sleeves, pulling them down to cover her hands before thinking better of it and letting them rest naturally at her wrists again. She had been somewhat of an anxious wreck all day but was trying to overcome that somehow.

It wasn’t working that well. 

She sighed and called the front office, glancing towards her desk drawer where she was keeping the most valuable thing she had ever held. “Um, when the bell rings, will you send Chloe Bourgeois to my office? Thank you.” 

She hung up her office phone and jiggled her legs. 

“If I opened the box,” she said to herself, “her kwami would come out and I could meet Pollen. That might be fun. It might also be very bad. I mean, what if Chloe didn’t want anyone to meet Pollen? What if Pollen doesn’t know what’s going on and, like, attacked me or thought I was its new master or something?” 

Frowning, she decided to do some paperwork while waiting. 

She really should have asked for Chloe immediately. 

Twelve minutes until the end of the session. She could wait. 

\---

There was a knock on her office door. Elena motioned for Chloe to come in and smiled. “Hi, Chloe, how are you?” 

“Fine,” Chloe said, her voice curt. Probably to keep from shaking, if Elena were to guess. “How are you, Ms. Secoureur?” 

“I’m doing well, thank you.” Elena motioned for Chloe to sit and grabbed the box. She set it down on the table and slid it across towards Chloe. “I think this is yours.” 

Chloe gasped and picked up the box. “Pollen?” she asked. 

“Yes, I believe so.” Elena waited. 

Chloe lifted a shaky handed and opened the box. Elena winced as a bright light filled the room and then a small yellow and black creature flew out. 

“My queen!” the kwami exclaimed. 

“Pollen! It’s been so long!” Chloe said. She lifted her hand and Pollen came to rest gently on it. 

Elena was surprised to see tears fill Chloe’s eyes. They spilled out over her cheeks and Elena stood up, closing her blinds immediately. 

“Thanks,” Chloe murmured softly, trying to wipe her eyes. 

Elena let her cry for a few minutes, studying Pollen as she waited. Pollen looked much like the other kwami she had seen, so she guessed they all looked about the same, just with different characteristics based on the animal they were based on. 

Her life was sort of bizarre. 

Chloe took a deep breath and smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I really appreciate this. What did Master Fu say?” 

“He said he was sorry that he hadn’t considered how much you would have missed Pollen,” Elena said, choosing her words carefully. “And then he gave me the box.” 

“That’s it?” Chloe asked, disbelief written all over her features. “Are you sure?” 

Elena nodded. “Yes, he just wanted to make sure you had Pollen.” 

“Oh.” Chloe beamed. “It’s so good to see you again,” she said softly. 

“I have missed you, my queen. I’m glad that you have missed me as well.” Pollen nuzzled Chloe’s cheek, making Chloe’s smile grow impossibly large.

Elena couldn’t keep from smiling as she watched. 

“Well, I should go to class,” Chloe said hesitantly. “Pollen, what would be a good place for you to hide?” 

“Hmm… inside your jacket should be fine!” Pollen said, darting suddenly into Chloe’s jacket. “Yes, it’s a very comfortable fit!” her voice squeaked from in the jacket. 

“Okay, perfect.” Chloe stood. “Thank you again. I’m going to head to class.” She grinned at Elena before opening the door. 

As she left, Elena heard her murmur, “If you ever get bored, I know the other kwamis like to hang out in Marinette’s bag together… you remember Marinette?” 

Elena smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. Chloe was going to be fine. 

\---

“Hey,” Daniel said, sitting next to her on the couch. “What’s up?” 

Elena shrugged and rolled her shoulders. “I’m just tense from work.” 

“It seems like you’re always tense from work,” he said, frowning. “Your mom told me not to let you get too tense from work.” 

She glared at him. “Why are you talking to my mom?” 

“She’s concerned about you.” Daniel shrugged. “Want to talk about it?” 

“Can’t,” she said. “Confidentiality.” 

“You can’t even vaguely talk about it?” 

Elena closed her eyes and sighed. “I wish I could, but then I’ll be giving away so many secrets and I would be so out of line. Even if I talked about it vaguely.” 

She felt him place a hand on her shoulder. “Okay. Let me know if that changes.” She looked at him as he stood and started walking to the kitchen. “Oh, by the way, you got a package today.” 

“A package?” Elena stood up and looked at the mail on the table. Sure enough, there was a package addressed to her. She frowned and opened the packaging. 

A note fell out. 

“I trust that you will keep this a secret, since you are not a child. -M.F."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)))))))) thoughts?


	14. group session #2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the first time the heroes all transformed together in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not r e a l l y a group session but it sort of is!

“Tikki, spots on!” 

“Plagg, claws out!” 

“Wayzz, shell on!” 

“Trixx, let’s pounce!” 

Ladybug beamed as she looked at Chloe. “Queen Bee?” she asked. 

Chloe was watching them all with unshed tears in her eyes. “Pollen,” she whispered. 

“Yes, my queen?” Pollen asked. 

“Buzz on!” 

The group watched with huge grins as Chloe transformed into Queen Bee for the first time in several years. Her clothes were replaced with her yellow and black jumpsuit and a mask covered her face. Queen Bee ended her transformation with a pose and a huge smile and Ladybug felt herself start to spontaneously clap, not surprised when the others joined in. 

Queen Bee bounced on her toes, clearly excited. “It feels so good to be transformed again!” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t I ask for my miraculous sooner?” 

Chat Noir laughed and reached for her hand. “Shall we go for a run?” 

“I’m right behind you, kitty cat,” she said, giving him a high-five instead of holding his hand like he clearly wanted, laughing at his bemused expression. “Let’s go.” 

Ladybug nodded. “Let’s run,” she said. 

“Permission to have fun and be silly?” Rena Rouge asked, smirking at their leader. 

Ladybug laughed. “Permission granted.”

Rena Rouge laughed and grabbed Carapace’s hand. “Come on, babe!” she said gleefully. 

And they ran. 

Paris was ecstatic to see their superheroes out and about again for the first time since Gabriel Agreste’s arrest. More than one person laughed to see how they all seemed to be playing tag across the rooftops, chasing after each other, laughing loudly when one fell or did something goofy. 

“Are they actually children?” one woman asked her partner. “I’ve never seen them so playful.”

“I hope they’re not, because that would be kind of messed up and scary,” her partner responded. “But regardless of their age, I’m happy to see them happy. I don’t think we’ve ever seen them play like this before.” 

“Well, this is their first chance in a long time to play without fear,” the first woman said. “Fear of Hawk Moth, I mean.” 

“I hope everything’s been going well for them.” 

 

Carapace slid to a stop and took a deep breath, laughing too hard to really get a full breath in. “Hey, dudes, stop!” he wheezed. “Chat, you can’t just lick people as you run by!” 

“Ew,” Queen Bee said, wrinkling her nose as she flew back towards Carapace. “Is that what you’re doing? Why would you ever think that’s okay?” 

Chat Noir slowly bounded back, grinning. “I don’t know. I thought it would be funny.” He frowned and looked down at himself. “Maybe the suit really does make me more cat-like.”

“Dogs lick people, dude,” Carapace said. “Not cats.”

Ladybug swung back towards them, missing the whole exchange, followed closely by Rena Rouge. “What happened?” 

“Chat licked the turtle,” Queen Bee said, disdain obvious in her voice. “Gross.” 

“Ew,” Ladybug said, recoiling slightly. “Why?” 

Chat shrugged. “Can we move on?” 

She studied him before smiling. “Last one to the Louvre is a rotten egg?” 

With a shout and four laughs, they all were off again, swinging, flying, running to the Louvre as fast as their bodies could take them. 

They were all surprised to feel how light they were, how fun it was to just run for no reason at all, and how good it felt to hang out as a team without any sense of duty or restriction holding them back. 

Maybe, for the first time since they all received their magic jewels, they truly felt like children. 

\---

“Spots off,” Ladybug said softly, letting her transformation fall away. Marinette looked at Adrien and smiled. “Do you want to stay tonight?” she asked. 

Adrien nodded and grabbed her hand. “Your parents don’t mind?” 

“They apparently trust you,” Marinette said. She laughed quietly as they went down to her bedroom. “I think, really, they just want to be good parents and they’re desperately trying to keep from officially adopting you.” 

“They can adopt me if they want!” Adrien said, a warm feeling bursting in his chest as he landed on the floor of her bedroom. 

“Mm, but I’m planning on marrying you.” 

Adrien’s head whipped around to stare at Marinette, who smiled at him softly. She reached over and slowly wrapped her arms around his middle, leaning her head on his chest. “So if they adopt you, it would be really weird for me to do that. Marry you, I mean.” 

She giggled when he began to purr. 

“Okay,” he said, his voice muffled as he buried his face in her hair. “Okay, I guess I’ll wait to become their child.” 

They stood there for a while, completely wrapped up in each other. 

\---

“Hey,” Alya whispered, poking Nino in the side repeatedly. “Wake up.” 

“Stop,” he groaned, pushing his face further into the side of the couch. “I’m sleeping.” 

“The movie is over,” Alya said, continuing to prod him. “Get up.” 

He lifted his head and stared at her, bleary-eyed. “What?” he asked. 

“The movie is over.” She motioned towards the TV aimlessly. “Should we put on another one?”

“No.” Nino hugged her and closed his eyes. “Bed time.”

She laughed. “Then I have to go.” 

He cracked an eye open. “No,” he said in a long, drawn-out tone. 

“You’re whining,” she whispered. “I’ll carry you to your bed.”

Nino lifted his head, suddenly feeling weirdly alert. “Like a princess?” 

“Yeah,” she laughed. 

He chuckled. “Okay, sure. Do it.” 

Alya blinked, surprised. “Really?” 

“Yeah!” He nodded. “I want to see if you can really carry me bridal style through two rooms and into my bed.” 

She laughed and scooped him up, using all her leg strength to hoist him up to the level of her chest. She staggered slightly but corrected her balance quickly, surprised to find he wasn’t actually that heavy. With careful steps, she carried Nino to his bedroom and laid him down on his bed. 

“Good night, princess,” she said, smirking slightly. 

Nino dragged her down and kissed her. “Good night, my prince,” he said, laughing. 

“I love you,” Alya whispered. 

He stilled and gazed at her, a slight smile on his face. “Love you, too.” 

\---

“Do you wish you had someone, too?” Pollen asked, flying close to Chloe and studying her face. “Like they have each other?” 

Chloe stood on her balcony and looked after the other four heroes, leaving with each other, a wistful look her face. “I mean… no, I wouldn’t want to be with someone like that, not really. But it is nice that they get to leave with someone when they’re done with their hero work.” 

“Maybe you should find someone, too!” Pollen chirped, her high-pitched voice raising higher in pitch with excitement at the suggestion. 

Chloe tore her gaze away from the other four heroes and smiled brightly at her kwami. “Why do I need someone else?” she asked. “I have you.” 

She reached her hand out. “Let’s go in. We have a lot to catch up on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> re: alya carrying nino around, i was in a musical where i got to catch a guy who jumped up in my arms and i spun him around the stage while wearing a huge skirt and heels so it's absolutely possible 
> 
> (i kind of feel like i need to wrap the story up soon. so... just so you know.)


	15. felinee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> elena has a decision to make.

Her heart was in her throat as she picked up the box that was under the note. “No,” she whispered. “No, no, no, no, no.” 

“What is it?” 

Elena jumped and screamed, clutching the box to her chest. 

Daniel stared at her with huge eyes. “Whoa! What’s going on?” 

“I just…” She tried to calm her breathing. “Sorry, I was just so focused on opening this that I wasn’t paying attention.” 

“You need a massage, dude,” he said, still watching her with his eyes wide and worried. “Like, just go to a spa and get a massage and a facial.” 

“A massage…” Elena whispered, looking at the box in her hand. “Yeah, I should go to a massage parlor.” 

“What’s in the box?” Daniel asked, pointing at what she knew to be a miraculous stone in her hand. 

“Um…” Elena frowned. “Um, I don’t know, I haven’t opened it, so, yeah, I don’t know.” She laughed lamely, letting her voice trail off. 

He was quiet for a moment. “Elena, are you… in danger?” 

She shook her head quickly. “No! No, not in danger, not at all.” 

Daniel gently reached out and took the box from her. “May I…?” 

Everything inside of her was screaming that she shouldn’t open it, shouldn’t show him, shouldn’t let him do this. “Yeah, go ahead,” she whispered, surprised to find herself crying. 

He opened the box and the expected bright light filled the room. “What the fu—”

“Hello,” the kwami said. “I am Felinee.” She turned and stared straight at Elena, her orange and black stripes shimmering, her fangs huge. She looked like a tiger, if tigers were small and round and weirdly sexualized. “You must be Elena.” 

Elena nodded. “This, uh, this is Daniel,” she said. “My roommate.” 

Daniel waved a little bit, clearly shocked. 

“You know what I am?” Felinee asked. 

Elena nodded again. 

“All you have to do is put on the bracelet and say, ‘Felinee, burn bright!’ and I will transform you.” Felinee grinned. 

Elena swallowed. The kwami’s fangs were huge. “Um, well, you don’t need me, though. I mean, Paris doesn’t. Master Fu doesn’t. There is no need for a new miraculous user.”

“Master Fu believes in you,” Felinee answered easily. “He was impressed by your passion and drive and believed that we would work well together.” 

“Why does he need another miraculous user, though?” she asked, frustrated. “Aren’t five enough, especially considering Hawk Moth is arrested and gone?” 

“Um, what?” Daniel asked, startling Elena. “This is a miraculous?” 

“Yeah,” she said, distracted. 

“He believes the children need a mentor, one who is not the guardian, and he trusts you to be their mentor.” Felinee circled Elena slowly, floating around her in a smooth motion. “And I trust Master Fu.”

“I sure as hell don’t,” Elena whispered. She glanced nervously at Daniel. “Um, I don’t think I want to be their mentor.”

Felinee and Daniel both stared at her in surprise. 

“Why not, child?” Felinee asked. 

“I just…” Elena sat down and put her head in her hands. “Ugh! I can’t. First of all, the inherent power dynamic between the teenagers and myself would be horrible. Like, I’m in charge of them at school, and I can’t handle being their guide outside of school, too. Especially since, weirdly, they would be teaching me. Also, like, okay, I would have to keep my identity secret from them, which would be weird, since they just learned about each other. That just feels super unethical. I have responsibilities as an educator, and some of those responsibilities include not becoming a weird, quasi-mentor-quasi-student of the students at my school.”

“Well…” Felinee started. 

“Oh, and another thing!” Elena said, jumping up from her chair. She began to pace. “I’m not even here for that long so eventually you would need to find another mentor, which would probably have a negative impact on their mental health, which, of course, I would want to avoid, so I think it would be best if I just sent you back to Master Fu’s.”

“So… you’re rejecting me?” Felinee asked. 

“Yeah.” Elena took a deep breath and smiled. “I’m rejecting you.”

Daniel was watching this whole thing, his jaw slack as his eyes flitted between the other two. 

Felinee smiled. “I’ve never been rejected before. You must have marvelous restraint. Not many people can resist the temptation to be a miraculous user. And Master Fu was right—you certainly have a great amount of passion.” She bowed slightly to Elena, then Daniel. “It was a pleasure to meet you. I will gladly go back into the box now.” 

Elena nodded at her before watching the kwami vanish. 

She shut the box and turned to Daniel. 

“Is this what you’ve been stressed about?” he asked. “Because I have so many questions.”

“I’m not sure if it’s ethical if I explain,” she said. “Um…”

“Well, what can you explain?” 

She looked at him, his earnest brown eyes wide, an easy smile on his face. “Um… well, I’ll tell you some stuff.” She sighed as they walked over to the couch. “I’m suddenly grateful school is out in a month and I’m going back home.” 

Daniel laughed and sat next to her. “You have to tell me before I die of curiosity.” 

“Well,” Elena said, settling in for a long conversation, “it all started when Chat Noir walked into my office, but in his civilian identity.”

\---

“That’s wild,” Daniel said quietly at the end of her story. “I am, like, weirdly jealous. Even though I realize how stressful that must have been for you.”

She laughed, a quick, harsh laugh, rolling her eyes. “Trust me, it was not that fun.”

“I can’t believe you got basically body slammed by Ladybug and you just got back up and continued with the session!” His eyes shone with admiration as he beamed at her. “You’re my personal hero.” 

Elena laughed again. “Thanks, Dan. I’m glad I’m not a hero, though.”

They both looked at the box on the table. 

“You’re really not going to transform?” he asked quietly.

“Nope,” she said. “No, I don’t think it would be ethical. Also, I’m definitely not the right person for the job.”

“You’re a good person.” He reached over and gripped her hand tightly. 

“Thanks,” she said quietly, smiling at him. “I appreciate that.” She sighed. “Well, I’m going to take this down to the post office and have them return it to the sender.” 

“You do that,” he said. “I’ll be here, queueing up Pride and Prejudice for you to watch again.” 

Elena laughed. “You do that. Also, maybe get out some ice cream?” 

“Sure thing,” he called after her cheerfully as she walked out the front door. 

\---

“Mom, I almost became a superhero today,” Elena said to her phone on her way back from the post office. 

“You did?” her mom exclaimed. “That’s awesome! Why almost?” 

“I just didn’t want to,” she said. “It comes with a lot of responsibility that I do not want to handle, ever.”

“Well, that makes me a little disappointed, because I would love to tell everyone that my very own daughter is a superhero. Sandra would be so jealous—you know her daughter is still working at Dairy Queen?” Her mom laughed. “Can you imagine if I told her you were a superhero?”

“Mom, there’s nothing wrong with working at Dairy Queen,” Elena gently reminded her. 

“I know, I know, calm down.” 

“I—” Elena turned her head when she heard enthusiastic cheering and laughter coming from almost directly above her. Her eyes widened as she saw Paris’s five superheroes running and flying on the rooftops, playing… were they playing… tag? She felt her face break into a huge smile and she watched as they flew right past her, not even aware that she was watching them. 

She laughed when Ladybug reached over and tugged Chat Noir’s tail, causing him to lose his balance and almost fall off the roof, and put her hand on her heart, touched, when Carapace immediately reached out and righted him so he didn’t fall. 

And just like that, they were gone. 

“Honey? You still there?” 

“Oh, hey, Mom, sorry! I just got distracted for a second.” Elena was still smiling, happier than she could have imagined with the sight she had just seen. “Um, I actually need to go. Daniel and I are having a movie night.” 

“Well, have fun, sweetie,” her mom said. “I can’t wait to see you. Just over a month now!”

“Just over a month,” Elena said back, surprised at how choked up she suddenly got. “Can’t wait.”

They traded final goodbyes and Elena hung up the phone. She stared up at the sky, waiting for another glimpse of the heroes that she knew wouldn’t come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :'( one more chapter i think


	16. final group session

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> school ends this week, and elena has one more group session with her students.

“Hi, everyone,” Elena said, her voice steady as she surveyed her students. “How’s everyone doing today?” 

She was pleased when the five of them all said something about how well they were doing. The past few weeks, she had noticed significant growth in terms of general well-being, and she was definitely happy about that. 

“Well, it’s our final group session before school lets out for the summer and you all are heading out to be adults,” Elena said, trying not to wince at the idea of these kids being fully-fledged adults. “So, our topic for today is…” 

She motioned towards the board where the words ‘Where Are We Going?’ were written. 

“I just wanted to have a relaxed chat about where all of you think you’ll be heading after you graduate this weekend.” She sat down at the table with them and smiled. “Anybody want to go first?” 

“I’m going to business school,” Chloe said immediately. “I might, like, go ahead and get my degree and then go into political science, but I also think I would make a great entrepreneur. Maybe make a product that is high quality but affordable? Help bridge the gap that the wealthy people keep trying to force wider.” 

Elena raised her eyebrows, surprised, but smiled. “That’s awesome, Chloe.”

Chloe smiled. “Thanks.” 

Elena waited for a moment. “Um, Alya?” 

Alya ducked her head and grinned, a weird mix of shy and confident bleeding through her expression. “I’m obviously going to be a reporter.” 

“You don’t still believe that you weren’t cut out to be a reporter?” Elena asked, thinking back to when Alya found out her best friends’ identities and had an identity crisis. 

Alya laughed. “No, no, I think I’ll be a great reporter.”

“Yeah, you will, babe,” Nino said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to her cheek. “I’m still thinking about what I really want to do—music is a bit of a gamble, especially being a DJ, and my best bud pointed out to me that I would make a good counselor, so I’m trying to decide.” He reached over and lightly punched Adrien’s shoulder. 

Adrien grinned. 

“So in the meantime, I’m going to work at my uncle’s music store.” 

“That’s awesome,” Elena said, pleased when he broke into a huge smile. “You have so much time to decide what you want to do, and even if you decide and then change your mind later, that’s totally okay. You’re young and you have a lot of life ahead of you.” 

“Um, yeah, thanks,” Nino said, his face slightly flushed with embarrassment. He rubbed his hand over his green bracelet. “You’re totally right, dude. Er, Ms. Secoureur.” 

Elena nodded and smiled at him before looking at the last two. “Marinette?” 

“I…” Marinette glanced between Adrien and Alya before sighing. “I want to be a fashion designer, of course. I actually just got accepted to a school in Paris, which is great, since I’ll still be able to be Ladybug.” 

“But you seem upset about that for some reason…” Elena prompted. 

“I’m not sure I can ever design again without thinking about… about Mr. Agreste,” Marinette admitted quietly, looking down at her hands. “I haven’t actually designed or sewn anything since he was arrested.” 

Adrien started at those words, his eyes flying wide. “You haven’t?” 

Marinette looked at him and just shook her head, pursing her lips. 

“Well…” Elena stopped and thought about her words for a moment. “That’s understandable. He was a huge inspiration to you and, inevitably, your hero fell. But, Marinette…” She leaned forward and made clear eye contact. “Designing is your passion. You don’t have to have Mr. Agreste as your inspiration anymore. You can inspire yourself, or if you really need inspiration, you can look to other designers you admire.” 

“I’m honestly kind of scared to look up to any other designers. Sure, none of them will be Hawk Moth, but nobody’s perfect, right?” 

“No, you’re right, nobody’s perfect.” Elena thought about how hard she struggled to be ethical, shutting down many of her natural instincts in order to do so, and how often she failed to be ethical even when she tried so hard. “That doesn’t mean you stop trying or creating for fear of the lack of perfection. And, if you can’t do it yet, it’s always something to work through with your clinical therapist, right?” 

Marinette nodded slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe if I just push myself to design one thing, one small thing, I’ll get all my inspiration back. And I won’t be scared anymore.” She laughed. “And my therapist would definitely work through it with me.”

Elena smiled when Adrien reached over and grabbed her hand, tightening his hold on it. 

“I have no idea what I’m going to do,” he said quietly, looking up at Elena with a calm expression on his face. “I used to know. I would be a model or a professional pianist or something else in the public eye. But now, I think I want to do something quiet. I’ve helped out in the bakery a few times this past month, and I really enjoy that.” 

Marinette smiled softly at him. 

“I also really like physics and I love the idea of teaching,” he continued, returning her smile as he spoke. “So I might look into that. But really, I’m just sure that I can live my life in the public eye as Chat Noir, but Adrien Agreste can live a quiet, happy, peaceful life.” 

“That sounds lovely, Adrien,” Elena said, feeling slightly choked up and trying not to show it. 

“What about you, Ms. Secoureur?” Nino asked. 

Elena blinked in surprise. “Me?” 

“Yeah. You know what we’re all going to do,” he said. He pointed at the board. “Where are you going?” 

She laughed slightly. “Um, well, I’m going back to Wyoming next week, where I’ll be graduating and then applying for jobs. My study abroad is over and I’m moving on.” 

“Do you think you’re going to still be a counselor?” Marinette asked. 

“I…” Elena paused. “I assume I am. I haven’t thought about it. I paid all that money and went through school to be a counselor, so yes, I suppose I will be a counselor.” 

“Even though the past few months have been insane?” Chloe asked. “I would have thought that having to be the counselor for the five of us would have made you not want to ever be a counselor again.”

“I doubt anything like you guys will be in Wyoming,” she laughed. “But, you’re right. This was a difficult, challenging, stressful experience.” She smiled at all them. “But do you know what? I wouldn’t have traded this internship for anything else in the world.

“I really love you all. I know I’m not really supposed to say that to my students, but you’re all really incredible humans who are growing up so quickly. I’m very proud to have been your counselor.” 

Elena bit her lip and leaned forward. “Thank you all for being you.”

“Stop,” Nino said, “I’m going to cry and I have my reputation to think about.”

“Crying in front of people actually breaks down toxic masculinity,” Alya immediately said. “Go ahead and cry, babe. Adrien already is.”

Elena smiled when she saw that Alya was, as always, correct. 

“Thank you, Ms. Secoureur,” Marinette said. “We really appreciate you.”

Elena felt tears prick at the edge of her eyes. “Thank you,” she said again. “I’ll miss you.”

“We’ll miss you!” all five of her students started exclaiming. 

Elena couldn’t explain how humbled and honored she felt in that moment, surrounded by her students, the superheroes of Paris—and they would all miss her. 

 

She really wouldn’t trade this internship for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, this is the technical end of the story. there will be a bonus chapter but it isn't really super "canon" to this story. it will be funny though. 
> 
> i'll do my final notes and stuff in that chapter. 
> 
> if you enjoyed this story i suggest you check out my other long mlb fic "best friend squad"!!


	17. wyoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> elena finds some people she knows in a random grocery store. that's it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy the dorkiness  
> (seriously this is short and dumb but whatever!!)

“This is stupid,” Marinette hissed at her boyfriend as they hid behind a shelf at the grocery store. “We’ve been here for, like, hours, and we haven’t seen her.” 

“This is the town she lives in,” Adrien said stubbornly. “And it would look suspicious if we started asking about her.” 

Marinette studied him for a second, her lips quirking. “I’m sorry, I can’t take you seriously in that outfit.”

“I look good,” Adrien said again, striking a pose that managed to simultaneously show off his Stetson and his brand new cowboy boots. “I’m not changing.”

“Hmm.” Marinette peered around the shelf again. “How long do you think we’ll have to wait at the grocery store?” 

“What are you two whispering about?” asked a voice from directly behind them.

“Agh!” Marinette and Adrien screamed together, immediately hiding in each other’s arms. 

A familiar laugh made Marinette peek at whoever had scared them. Her eyes flew open and she beamed. “Ms. Secoureur!” she exclaimed, letting go of Adrien in favor of hugging Elena. 

“Hi!” Elena said, hugging Marinette. “Uh, what are you doing here?” 

Adrien leaned in for a hug as soon as Marinette was released. “Hi! We’re here to see you, of course.” 

“You are?” Elena asked, clearly surprised. “You came from Paris to Wyoming to visit me?” 

“Yeah!” he said, like it was no big deal. 

Elena supposed that, for him, it wasn’t. 

“We were at Yellowstone when Adrien remembered how close your town was,” Marinette said. “So we took a quick detour from our tour of the western United States to come find you.”

“And you thought you would find me in a grocery store?” Elena asked, amused. She led them out of the store and into the bright sunlight. “How long were you in there?” 

“So long,” Adrien complained. 

“Pretty sure the owner thought we were going to rob the store, actually,” Marinette said, laughing slightly. 

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t,” Elena said, biting back a smile. “And I’m glad you found me. Or, rather, I found you. It would have been super weird if I hadn’t.”

“It was already super weird,” Marinette said, looking at Adrien briefly before grinning at Elena. “Oh, it’s so good to see you!”

“It is!” Elena agreed. “It’s been… three years?” 

“Yes!” she said. “Yeah, three years. Are you still counseling?” 

They all caught up as they walked in a specific direction—clearly, Elena had a destination in mind. 

Elena found out that Marinette was on a month-long vacation from fashion design school, and Adrien was well on his way to be a teacher for a secondary school. She relayed that she was still counseling, but at an elementary school this time. 

“Actually, you’re really lucky that you came on this weekend,” she added. “I live about an hour away and was just here for a visit.” She pointed out a house a couple of blocks away. “My mom’s house. Want to join us for dinner?” 

“Yes!” Adrien immediately exclaimed, making the girls both grin. 

“Mom,” Elena called as they entered her mom’s house, “are you okay with two more guests for dinner?” 

Her mom poked her head through a doorway and beamed. “The more guests, the merrier! And who are you?” She emerged from the room, wiping her hands on her apron. 

“I’m Adrien Agreste, Mrs. Secoureur,” Adrien said, his tone immediately shifting from ‘excitable teenager’ to ‘polite young man’. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Marinette quickly added. 

“French?” Mrs. Secoureur said, her eyebrows raising. “Like my husband. You know my husband?” 

“Uh, no, ma’am,” Adrien said. “We were students of your daughter’s when she was counseling in France.” 

Mrs. Secoureur narrowed her eyes at him. 

Adrien suddenly felt very uncomfortable with her scrutiny. 

She walked over to an overstuffed chair. Plopping down, she grabbed her laptop from a nearby table and, pulling on her glasses, she typed something rapidly into her laptop. 

“What…” Adrien started to whisper to Elena. 

She held up a finger in a ‘wait’ motion. 

They all stood silently for a moment, Marinette and Adrien giving each other strange glances. 

“Ah! You’re Chat Noir,” Mrs. Secoureur said, making Adrien jump and look at Marinette again in fear. 

“Uh, no, ma’am, I’m not Chat Noir, although that would be cool if I was,” Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Don’t lie to me,” she said smoothly, a small smile on her face. 

Adrien looked at Elena, eyebrows raised. 

“Mom…” Elena said, a warning tone in her voice. 

“It’s obvious. Same physique. Same coloring. And, plus, I remember the vague details you gave me about how the superheroes of Paris were your students and how one of them was sort of related to Hawk Moth.” Mrs. Secoureur motioned at Adrien. “Agreste.” 

Plagg poked his head out of Adrien’s pocket. “I like her.” 

Mrs. Secoureur shut her laptop and grinned. “Thanks.” She stood up. “Dinner? How do we feel about lasagna?”

Marinette and Adrien were just staring. 

“That’s good, Mom, thanks,” Elena said. 

Her mom disappeared back into the kitchen without another word. 

“Now I know where you got your deductive powers from,” Marinette said, smiling slightly at Elena. 

“She’s pretty intense,” Elena said cheerfully. “Still glad to be here?” 

They all laughed, breaking the tension. 

Plagg zipped into the kitchen, loudly proclaiming that he needed cheese. 

Adrien decided that he liked America.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh i can't believe it's over!! this story definitely did not go the direction i thought it would go (the plot kind of got out of hand for me there for a little while) but i loved writing it! thank you to everyone who interacted with it in some way -- it really filled my heart with joy and i loved being able to Chat with some of you guys about the story and mlb in general!! 
> 
> feel free to look me up on tumblr if you want to @flowersandstarlight. i'm pretty much an mlb blog now haha 
> 
> until next time, friends <3


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